Emo, Son of Feanor
by Araloth the Random
Summary: Caranthir, called the Dark, is different. He spends the summer at Alqualonde with all his crazy relatives and gets persuaded to start socialising for once by his cousin - to rather amusing effect.
1. Prologue

So basically one day I got inspired to write about Caranthir (my favourite son of Feanor next to Maglor!) after listening to that song 'I Must Be Emo'. Caranthir and his brothers talk like modern-day young people and their names are in Sindarin – yes, I am fully aware that they would have used Quenya in Valinor but I'm more familiar with their Sindarin names.

**Read and enjoy – don't forget to review! =D**

**Emo, Son of Feanor**

Through much observation and research I think I have come to the reliable conclusion that my brothers are a bunch of idiots.

And when they call me a weirdo that is what I tell them. Unlike other people I feel comfortable dressing in black and having long strands of black hair that sometimes hang in my eyes. My brother Celegorm says I have no feelings. I guess what inspired this highly intelligent remark was the fact that I don't have a perpetual grin on my face and sarcasm is an inherent part of my nature. Celegorm also says I have no redeeming qualities and I'm going to be a homeless derro by the time I come-of-age. Celegorm is stupid.

Here's the deal - Caranthir the Dark is code for emo kid. Well, that's what they call me – even though I'm not into knives and weapons of torture or trying on my cousin Aredhel's tight jeans. But I guess if wearing black and failing to spend hours of valuable time in front of a mirror means I'm weird – go ahead and call me weird.

Maedhros walked in late one day – actually his disappearances recently had been more frequent and his returns at odd hours.

"Where have you been?" snapped Dad upon my oldest brother's entrance into the loungeroom.

"Nowhere."

"Who were you with?"

"No one."

"What were you doing?"

"Nothing."

Celegorm rolled his eyes. "He's been out partying with his new _girlfriend_."

"I have not!" protested Maedhros, although the very slight pink that coloured his cheeks at Celegorm's comment suggested quite the opposite.

"Have so. I've seen you."

"Guys," I broke in, "You wanna shut up now?"

"_You_ shut up, emo," sneered Celegorm.

"How about no?"

"Bite me."

"Go to Helcar."

"Caranthir! Celegorm!" grumbled Dad. "I don't understand why you boys have to fight all the time. Your mother and I have an announcement to make."

So all of us sat still in expectation.

"We've decided that we'll accept your Uncle Finarfin's invitation to spend summer in Alqualonde this year," announced Mum.

A chorus of awesomenesses and cools filled the air – the only one of us who looked a little downcast was Maedhros, presumably because he would have to say goodbye to his girlfriend for a while.

"Alqualonde's like, built on the beach, right?" Curufin asked Mum.

"Yes, it is."

Both the twins looked excited - neither of them had seen the sea before, and admittedly the last time I'd been was when I was about six.

"When are we going?" asked Amras.

"Day after tomorrow."

OoO

"You're going to Alqualonde for summer? That's awesome!"

Avasarie tossed her apple core carelessly off the building where we were standing and by pure mischance someone walked by at that moment. We quickly ducked, giggling like ten-year-olds while a few curses came flying up from down below.

"Yeah – I just wish you could come with."

"Yeah, and if I did people would sit there going, 'Oh look, that's so cute – an emo couple.'"

"It's kinda weird how everyone we've met just make weird assumptions and then go 'oops' when they find out that we're just really good friends."

"Tell me something, Caranthir," said Avasarie as yet one more guy gave us a strange look, "Is it just me or do people think we're weirdos?"

I shrugged. "Possibly. But I like to think that we're normal and everyone else is weird."

Mum looked pleased to see Avasarie.

"Hello, Avasarie," she beamed when we walked in through the door.

"Hey," she replied. Celegorm hopped off the couch at the sight of her.

"Yo, emo-ette!" he yelled with a grin on his face.

I rolled my eyes. You know, for someone who thinks his brother's a lost one and that said brother's few friends are all weird he certainly doesn't seem to mind Avasarie at all. Every time he sees her the same idiotic grin lights up his face and then to top off the idiocy he says something that's completely the opposite of what he thinks, such as the above comment. I have tried time and time again to tell him that Avasarie is not into guys with good looks who can't even boast having two brain cells with which to grunt. He told me, 'You suck.' I said that such an unoriginal comment only proves unintelligence on his part, to which he didn't have a reply. In any case he still likes my best friend.

"Shut up," she replied with a smile, sitting at the bench. Truth to be told, I didn't actually know what she really thought of Celegorm. Most girls think he's cute but rude.

"I don't know how you can hang out with Caranthir here," he continued.

"Because she can't stand _you_, that's why," I replied. "Hey, Mum, can I ask you something?"

"What is it?"

"Can Avasarie come with us to Alqualonde?"

Avasarie looked shocked. "You totally didn't have to do that," she reprimanded.

"Of course she can come!" exclaimed Mum.

"Who's coming where?" inquired Dad, walking in with his old and daggy work clothes on.

"Avasarie. Caranthir wants her to come with us to Alqualonde."

Dad as a rule didn't really approve of my friends – probably because they weren't all popular people who were into forging stuff like Maedhros' mates. But Avasarie had been one of my friends since we were four years old and Dad was friends with her dad.

So he said yes, he would be happy for her to join us and that we were leaving tomorrow.

Celegorm was also very happy and gave her a hug.

OoO

Celegorm insisted on trying a new hairstyle on Maedhros and reluctantly the latter consented. I was present as well, not for the pleasure of my brothers' company but because it would be rather amusing to see what kind of horrible new fashion Celegorm had now come up with.

"Celegorm," I said, having ensconced myself on Maedhros' bed. "Would you mind not cracking onto Avasarie every time you see her?"

"Shut up," snapped my dear brother, at the same time yanking Maedhros' red hair.

"Yo, Celegorm?" asked Maedhros, wincing, "I agreed for you to do my hair, not separate it from my scalp. Thank you. And what's all this about you and Avasarie?"

"Nothing. Caranthir's blaming his weirdness and his lack of looks on me."

I rolled my eyes, as was my usual reaction to Celegorm's comments. But his saying that I lacked good looks was true. Noldorin guys are supposed to be good-looking, the Sons of Feanor, or anyone from the House of Finwe especially. My brothers fulfilled the quota – Maglor was the cute musician guy everyone liked, Celegorm was the hot blond guy; and Maedhros – he had red hair and he was still attractive. One girl was staring at him so much that she rammed into a pole while she was walking down the street. Me, however. I was always the not-so-hot son of Feanor with a weird taste in clothes and a weirder personality. Celegorm's latest girlfriend had once come to our house and was busy eyeing off Maedhros but the look on her face when she saw me. . .it would have been funny if I hadn't been hurt by it. Yes, despite the fact that Celegorm thinks I have no feelings, I do. I was hurt.

"How do I look?" asked Maedhros, getting off the floor. Obviously he hadn't seen himself yet.

"Like Grandpa's mangy cat," I replied. A projectile immediately came flying at me as I ran laughing from the room.

I didn't know it, but going to Alqualonde was going to be a real experience. At the time, though, I thought going meant just another weird family get-together and I was just glad Avasarie would be with me.


	2. Arrival

**Arrival**

I have never liked trips. Especially long ones.

My brothers, however, revel in them. They seize upon the opportunity of having lots of time and little to do, and make use of that time by finding ways to piss everybody off. Mainly it's Celegorm and Curufin. If I think about it the others probably aren't that bad. Maedhros is not completely incapable of uttering something more intelligent than a grunt from time to time – same goes for Maglor. The twins are okay. Celegorm and Curufin, however, are a different story. I do have to say that of the two Curufin is probably smarter and doesn't spend half as much time reflecting on his own superlative virtues as vain Celegorm. Mostly I've either managed to thwart their remarks with a sarcastic comeback or even simply ignore them altogether. So far I'd nearly gone all day without having to confront either one.

I was watching Amrod and Amras playing cards – they seemed indifferent to and ignorant of the time, which was passing all too slowly. Maglor was strumming his lyre and singing softly; not really a change from the usual. Maedhros was staring into the distance with a vacant rather than pensive look on his face. But what annoyed me most was that Celegorm had his arm thrown behind Avasarie – and what was worse, she wasn't reacting. Had I been in Avasarie's shoes Celegorm would have been decked a long time ago. No, she was actually talking to him – and without the use of her fists. I found myself frowning.

"What's wrong with _you_?"

"Nothing," I said quickly in response to Celegorm's question. The possibility of Avasarie liking my brother somewhat freaked me out. The most logical explanation for the strange and uncomfortable feeling that welled up inside me was that I'd always assumed Celegorm was incapable of liking anyone apart from himself. Actually, I didn't really know what Avasarie thought of Celegorm – I certainly knew how he felt about _her_. It somehow didn't seem right that my anticonformist best friend be with my egotistic and very conformist brother.

"I know," put in Curufin, putting an end to my meditation. "You don't have a knife with you." Whereupon he burped. I rolled my eyes. Seriously – what made people think that sharp objects and suicidal lamentations somehow appealed to me?

Startled out of his reverie by Curufin's loud bodily exhalation, Maedhros glared at my fifteen-year-old brother, his blank expression replaced by a look of annoyance. Celegorm too looked annoyed, presumably for Avasarie's sake.

"Dude," he said, "that was _revolting_."

"Not as revolting as your face," I quipped. Curufin burped again, this time blowing it in my direction. Ugh.

"Man, you guys have interesting conversations," remarked Avasarie, amused.

"Yeah, well," drawled Celegorm, "that's because _I'm_ the interesting one." I raised an eyebrow. My brother? Interesting? Ha.

"As if conformity is interesting!" I snorted.

"I'm with you there," said Avasarie. "What would the world be without good ol' rebels?"

"A lot better," blurted Celegorm. When Avasarie suddenly frowned at him, he realized his mistake and quickly attempted to redress. "I meant the sort like Caranthir," he added hastily.

Avasarie looked unconvinced. "Excuse me, I hang out with the sort like Caranthir," she retorted. Celegorm put on his relaxed attitude once again.

"Why can't you hang out with mindless conformists like me once in a while?" he asked in a persuasive tone.

"Because I like Caranthir better," responded Avasarie defensively. My brother shot me a rather nasty look. I just gave him a triumphant smile. Pretty soon though, we all sat still in silent admiration as we watched the city of the Teleri loom ahead and even Curufin had to stop burping.

OoO

To this day I still don't know why Dad actually accepted Uncle Finarfin's invitation. I really didn't think he could survive a whole month and a half without his forge. And especially if Uncle Fingolfin would be there. Family politics – don't ask. Old grievances die hard. I don't know exactly what happened, but I do know that he has something against Fingolfin. Any politeness between the two is purely superficial and only serves the purpose of avoiding a very unpleasant confrontation.

In any case that evening the whole mob of Finwe was out on the beach to greet us.

Uncle Finarfin was al affability and enthusiasm as he told us he was glad we made it, we hadn't caught up much lately – Maedhros was so tall now! and he'd heard about Maglor's singing career – how was that going, by the way etc. When he came to me all he could say was, "Oh. Caranthir. You look, um, different."

"Thanks, Uncle," I said flatly. It was a pretty typical comment, and not even half as rude as some of the things I've heard people say about me when they thought I wasn't there. I was the only son of Feanor who wasn't growing up with great prospects and good looks. I was used to it.

When I turned around Avasarie had disappeared. Looking into the crowd I say her with a younger girl of about Curufin's age. Upon seeing me she ran up and hugged me.

"Caranthir!" she yelled, nearly knocking me to the ground.

"Hey, Aredhel, How's it going?"

"Yeah, it's alright. I was just catching up with Avasarie. Good old days." I smiled.

Suddenly I felt myself fly into the sand. I blindly swung my fist before copping a mouthful of sand and felt it come into contact with someone's obviously toned stomach. Removing some seaweed from my hair I glanced upwards and saw Aredhel's older brother standing over me.

"Valar, your reflexes are getting good." He helped me up. "Hey, Avasarie."

"Yo. Fingon, right?"

"Yeah. How you doin'?"

"You guys _have_ to see the city," interrupted Aredhel. "It's awesome."

"And I'm friggin' starving. If anyone needs me, I'll be stuffing my face." With that Fingon walked off to the shelter where all the food was.

Awesome? I could believe that.

OoO

I've heard from various hoity-toity Vanyar that the Noldor love too well the works of their hands. And I have to agree, because that applies to most Tirionites. Not all, but most. Some people think Tirion is the centre of the world. That would explain why, with the things I'd heard, I was nearly expecting mud huts on the beach.

Tirion, at least for me, paled in comparison to Alqualonde. Far from being huts on the beach it was really beautiful and the sea gave it a pretty impressive backdrop.

"Looks like we're not the only weird ones," remarked Avasarie as we walked. That was true enough – Alqualonde was supportive of diverse culture, as my nerdy cousin Orodreth would say. The kids around here didn't mind being different. I started to relax.

Galadriel, for whatever reason, had insisted on coming with. She'd been here for a few days longer than we had and being a social butterfly she'd already made good friends out of her randoms and wanted both me and Avasarie to meet them all.

"I know you're sort of on the antisocial side of things," she chattered, "but no cousin of mine is going to go for six weeks in this city without a social life."

"I don't need a social life," I protested. "I've done pretty well without one for seventeen years."

"Which is way too long. And which is why I'm going to have you both come to every party I'm invited to. So shut up."

"But-"

"Shut up, Caranthir."

So I meekly shut up and let my locquacious cousin list all of her latest social events and tell Avasarie that hanging out with her group would de-goth the both of us.

"What, so we're _goths_ now?" I asked.

"S'pose so."

"Okay, I can put up with emo, but not goth."

Galadriel shrugged. "Emo. Goth. Same diff."

"Udun, no! There's a huge difference between emo and goth."

Then I caught sight of a group of kids about our age which I identified as being Galadriel's friends. There was a blond guy who sorta reminded me of Celegorm except without the sneer on his face – he was standing next to a brownish-red headed guy. There was a brown-haired girl with a bob who gave us all a 'peace' sign and the leader of the group appeared to be a tall guy with long hair who introduced himself as Aeron.

"Hey, peoples! Hey, Bob – your hair looks cool as!" came Galadriel's standard greeting. "This is my cousin Caranthir and my friend Avasarie."

"Hey. Nice to meet you both," said Aeron, although the impression I got was that he was directing his words more towards Avasarie. "Did you guys happen to see Menelya on your way here?" Galadriel shook her head.

"I wanted to see her, actually," she said thoughtfully.

"Who's Menelya?" I asked.

Who, indeed. Loud and talkative as Galadriel and her entourage were I was barely aware of their existence as I stared at a tall and slender girl that materialized just behind Bob.

"Hey, everyone!" she said cheerfully, tossing her honey-coloured hair. "Whoa." She stopped upon seeing me, apparently not noticing Avasarie. Her face suddenly broke into a grin. "Who's _this_?"

"_This_ would be Caranthir," said Bob.

"You don't _look_ like Galadriel's cousin," observed the blond guy. Bob rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, real smart, Calenir." I hardly noticed any of them. Probably because you don't find girls like Menelya in Tirion. And probably because I wasn't used to having hot girls pay any attention to me.

"True," mused Menelya, "but the hot factor definitely runs in the family." With that she flashed a smile in my direction. I smiled back, in a good mood for the first time in weeks.

This was _so_ my city.

**I got the idea for 'Bob' from one of my friend's sisters – she came to school with her hair cut into a bob one day and we've called her that ever since. Thanks for your reviews – they make my day! =D**


	3. A Random Chapter

**A Random Chapter**

Upon reaching our house again I found Maglor bouncing around (despite the fact that he's twenty-one) and yelling excitedly with a letter in his hand. He nearly bowled me over as we came through the door.

"Dude! This is friggin' awesome!"

I raised an eyebrow. "What's awesome?" I asked.

"I've been asked to sing at the Alqualonde Music Festival!" he shouted. "Free hug!" and proceeded to hug Avasarie.

"Um – hey, Maglor," she said, trying to disentangle herself.

"Haven't you already sung at stuff like that before?" I queried. "What makes this one different?"

Maglor gave me a look of utter disbelief and dropped Avasarie. "Dude, the Alqualonde Music Festival is only, like, the biggest deal in the music world!"

Actually, I should have known that one. Even the most music-illiterate people in Tirion know that. Before I could reply he'd rushed off to his room and in his ecstatic state Maglor proceeded to belt the living crap out of his lyre with the loudest and most energetic song he knew, the walls nearly collapsing as a result. Dad, needless to say, was not too pleased.

"_Maglor_!" he yelled over the sound. "Will you turn that down?" Despite the fact that Maglor rocked, and that it was apparent even when he was a little kid that he had a serious flair for music, for some reason he never received Dad's approbation. Apart from the being famous part – Dad at least gave him some credit for that. Still, the only approval Maglor needed was from his fans, and those were in no short supply.

"Heyyy, Avasarie," drawled Celegorm, coming into the kitchen.

"Good Lords, I'm popular today," muttered Avasarie, looking somewhat confused. It was understandable – after all, being accosted by my brothers _would_ be a frightful experience.

"Wanna go hang out or something? I'm bored," he said.

Panic seized me for some unexplained reason. Some strange feeling always seemed to crop up whenever I recognized that lovelorn look on his face, the one he'd worn in her presence ever since Avasarie and I were five years old and Celegorm was seven. Even as a five-year-old it had irritated me immensely. I didn't fear that he would do anything worse that ask her out – Celegorm is many things but he's not an arsehole when it comes to girls. So what was it? I didn't know. Whatever it was, it frightened me out of my wits.

"No, Avasarie's hanging out with me today," I said hurriedly, dragging her outside and away from my psycho brother. Avasarie shot me a strange look.

"What's up with you?" she asked, somewhere between puzzled and amused.

"Haven't you noticed anything weird about the way Celegorm's been treating you for the last, I don't know, twelve years, maybe?"

"Not really."

The nonchalant reply was somewhat exasperating.

"Has it ever occurred to you that he likes you?"

"No – does he?"

"Yes, and it's blatantly obvious."

"Huh." Her dark hair blew around her face as she considered this last statement with a pensive air. Actually, Avasarie was sort of pretty – something I'd never observed before. . . and also something that I immediately threw out of my consciousness as soon as the thought occurred to me.

"Why should it matter to you at all if I did?" she asked at length.

"Because Celegorm is my brother, and besides that, he's weird."

"Yeah, but at least I've known him for ages. You already like Menelya after talking to her for one day." Wha – how the Helcaraxe did she know that?

"How did –"

"Because I do. And if I did like your brother I'd be fully entitled to, because he's not some random that I just met."

"So do you like him, then?" I asked quietly. She looked taken aback by the question.

"Um, I haven't actually –" she began.

"Uh, Caranthir?" Curufin appeared out of nowhere. "There's this girl at the door who wants to see you."

Thinking it might have been Menelya I promptly forgot everything and went round to the door, only to find Bob standing there. Apparently there was a conversation that took place between Curufin and Bob that I only found out about a lot later, with words to this effect:

Curufin: What do you want?

Bob: Hey. Are Avasarie and that emo guy around here?

Curufin: Caranthir? Are you sure that's who you're looking for?

Bob: Yeah. You one of his brothers?

Curufin: Yeah.

Bob: I thought so.

Curufin: What's that supposed to mean?

Bob: What's what supposed to mean?

Curufin: The whole 'I thought so' thing. What, do you think I'm as weird as he is?

Bob: No, just a whole lot ruder.

Curufin: Whatever. Who are you anyway?

Bob: I'm Bob.

Curufin: What kind of name's that?

Bob: My hair, idiot. Bob. You?

Curufin: Curufin. Not so nice to meet you.

Bob: Same to you, dude. Now tell me where your brother is before I slam you into that wall and kick your arse from here to Taniquetil.

Curufin: Alright, alright, I'll go get him. No need to get so shirty.

At this point I turned up, Avasarie in tow.

"What's up?" I asked casually.

"Party at Vorondil's. You and you," she replied, nodding at the both of us. Apparently Aeron had at length seen fit to admit Avasarie and I to the group. Just one thing –

"Who's Vorondil?" I asked. Bob rolled her eyes.

"Vorondil. Brownish-red hair. On the tall side."

Of course. I hadn't actually talked to the guy – he'd hardly said a word during the whole time we'd been there, and to be honest I'd barely noticed him.

"Okay, we'll be there," said Avasarie for the both of us, not thinking at all about how we were going to get there without Mum or Dad knowing.

"Awesomeness!" beamed Bob.

"Is Menelya going to be there?" I felt a hard nudge from Avasarie whereupon I stomped on her foot.

"Of course! She actually asked me whether or not you were going, so that's when I came round here to find out." Inwardly I was yelling 'Boo-yeah!'. Outwardly I said calmly,

"My brother wasn't too much of a pain in the arse?"

She shrugged. "Nah. He's kinda cute, actually, beneath all that hostility."

"How old are you, exactly?"

"Fifteen."

"Aren't you a bit young to be hanging out with us and going to parties and all that?"

"No. I'm only two years younger than you lot. Anyway, I'm gonna choof off. See you tomorrow night!" With that she walked off. I found myself wondering what on earth Curufin could have said to Bob to make her think that he was cute. Must have been something truly romantic. But that was highly unlikely – Curufin was almost as incapable as Celegorm of showing any nicer outpourings than blunt rudeness. As I was contemplating this Curufin himself came slouching into view.

"Who was that, anyway?"

"One of my friends," I said.

"And if you want to know, she called you cute," added Avasarie.

Curufin's face was a study in surprise as he said, "Really? She said that?"

"Yeah, which means she has a weird taste in guys," I said, employing my usual sarcasm without thinking.

Expecting to have some missile thrown at me I instinctively moved back. But all Curufin could mutter in reply was,

"Shut up, dude."

I just grinned to myself and walked off. If only I had seen that faint shade of crimson suddenly tinge his cheeks.


	4. Partay!

Sorry that it's taken me a while to update – I've been up to my eyeballs in homework so I won't be able to update quite so regularly. A big thank you to all my reviewers!

**Partay!**

It was inevitable that Avasarie would be a little weirded out, even a bit annoyed, by the fact that I was getting rather paranoid about any developments between her and my nutso brother – especially later on when I considered the point she had made about her knowing Celegorm for a long time but I had known Menelya for, what, a few days? What? I couldn't help it. Menelya was really cool to hang out with – yes, I _had_ talked to her again at some stage – and it didn't look like she minded me, either. I had come home grinning maniacally after that and Avasarie had very pointedly rolled her eyes, but she was smiling. Inwardly I breathed a sigh of relief – I couldn't live with having my best friend annoyed with me. Still, it would not have been a bad idea to reconsider that restraining order for Celegorm. . .

Now all that remained to be seen to was asking Galadriel's brother Finrod to cover for Avasarie and I when we went to Vorondil's party. I highly doubted that Dad would approve if I asked him – and the truth was, I actually wanted to go. If I did envy Finrod for anything, it was that his parents weren't very strict, unlike mine. So just to be on the safe side, I decided to see my cousin about it.

Finrod was horrified.

"No way," he said when I told him.

"Oh come on, just this once," I said, "I know that it's a bit –"

"No, no, it's not _that_," interrupted Finrod, "it's that you're actually being social for once."

Well. That wasn't what I expected.

"But yeah, I'll cover for you," he added, probably suppressing a laugh at my facial expression.

"Thanks, mate."

"No worries. You owe me one, but."

I told Dad that we were staying the night at Uncle Finarfin's and – he believed me. So that was that problem sorted out.

"Sneaking out to parties, lying to your Dad – tut, tut," remarked Avasarie as we set off.

"Yeah, well." I shrugged. "It's gotta happen sometime, doesn't it?"

"I guess. Where does Vorondil live, anyway?"

The sounds of yelling and the general noises you would normally associate with teenage parties emanated from a rather large house somewhere in the distance, along with the ensuing sound of breaking glass. I winced.

"I _think_ we've found it," I said slowly, more than a little bewildered. In confirmation of this Aeron and Co. came running outside with congenial greetings.

"Yo, losers!" he yelled upon reaching us. He almost immediately grabbed Avasarie and proceeded to go off and dance inside the house, which was almost overflowing with people, most of whom I didn't even recognise and nearly all of whom were at least tipsy. Why the Udun was Vorondil, of all people, hosting something like this?

"Hey," said this random dude that popped up beside me. "Had anything to drink?"

"Uh –"

"Try some o' this stuff." He disappeared and I didn't see him again that night, left standing there with some sort of alco. Ah, well. What harm could a bit of alco do? I took a sip, decided I liked it and drained the whole glass. _Whoo_. Good stuff. So that glass was followed by another. And another. And another.

By this time the room was starting to look a bit tilted and I wasn't feeling so great. Suddenly I lurched forward as someone bumped into me.

"Bro – what're you doing here?" The familiarity of the voice startled me.

"What are _you_ doing here?" I asked, aware, in a strange sense, that I wasn't thinking straight. I tilted my head to one side and gazed bemusedly at the red-haired guy standing in front of me. Why wasn't someone holding the room still? I remember thinking at this point. I _knew_ I'd seen the guy somewhere, I could've sworn I had – but what was his name again? Good Lords, _I_ didn't remember. Maitirion, maybe. Maeron? Mangaráto?

"Are you okay, Caranthir?" asked the guy concernedly.

"How do _you_ know my name?" I slurred. He shook his head.

"How much have you had to drink?" he sighed.

"A glass, I _think_. Or maybe two, or three – I dunno. I've lost count." I held up my half-empty glass. "Good stuff, this is."

"Seriously, you're sloshed off your face. Are you sure you're alright?"

I nodded vigorously, although this made my brains rattle and my head felt a little worse for wear. "I'm _fline_," I replied, waving my hand dismissively. "Schline. Er, gline."

He shook his head again and disappeared, with an "Okay, if you say so." Who was _that_, anyway? He'd probably had a tad too much to drink. Actually, how much had I had to drink? My stomach felt like it was slowly inching its way up my throat but I felt – I don't know, happy or something. Yeah, that was the word for it. Valar, that's a good word. Wow, this room is moving again, etc. These were the types of inane thoughts that ran through my light head.

So that was the first time I'd been smashed. I wouldn't recommend it to anyone because the hangover you wake up with outweighs the high you were on the night before. I've never boasted about it afterwards like other guys do because if you want my honest opinion, I really didn't feel that great and I did some very stupid things that only caused problems that would take me a while to get over. In the meantime I sauntered over to Vorondil to see if he was capable of talking.

"Yo, Vorondil!" I said. He looked up and nodded. "Great party." We were silent for a few moments and then he finally spoke.

"You like Menelya?" he asked quietly.

"Yeah, I guess so." He nodded again.

"Be careful of her. She might not be all that you think." I frowned. What was that supposed to mean? But before I could ask any more my head started to throb and in an effort to steady myself I leaned against a wall.

"Caranthir!"

I turned around and saw Menelya running towards me.

"Heyyyy," I drawled. _What on Arda are you doing?_ said some little voice that hadn't been drowned in drink. _Things are getting bad when you start sounding like Celegorm_.

"What's up?" asked Menelya, beaming with her perfect teeth.

"The ceiling," I remember replying. So my sarcasm hadn't been at all affected by the fact that I'd had quite a few.

"Dance with me," she said suddenly, taking hold of my hand. I shook my head.

"Nah, I don't dance."

"Why not?"

"Because I can't, and girls don't like me enough to put up with my two left feet long enough to."

Menelya paused for a moment. "_I_ like you," she said slowly.

"Bet you can't prove it," I said, my head reeling from my sloshed state and from what she'd just said.

"Bet you I can," she replied, leaning over and kissing me.

The last thing I remember was seeing a sudden fight erupt in the loungeroom and Avasarie in the midst of it. Then I passed out.

Good stuff, that was.


	5. I Call It Freedom of Expression

Yes, I know the summary's changed for the third time but my story keeps changing too! I've decided to put different perspectives into this fic, so from now on a few chapters are going to be from Avasarie's point of view. I thought it might make things more interesting. Thankyou to LeCastor for the inspiration!

This chapter goes back to about Chapter 3, from Avasarie's point of view.

Don't forget to review! =D

**I Call It Freedom of Expression**

Avasarie

The Royal Family is a strange bunch. They're loud and crude and random and just awesome, really.

That was just a random comment. Basically, my best friend, who happens to be a Son of Feanor, got me invited along to Alqualonde to spend the summer with him and his extended family. I didn't expect him to do that at all but as it turned out the whole Feanorian mob wanted me to come and my family had no objections, so off I went. But it wasn't until one day on our vacation that I nearly had a fight with Caranthir – and it was over something that I'd never really considered important enough to argue over.

Almost as soon as I stepped in through the door I was accosted by his older brother Maglor, who was evidently in a state of ecstasy, judging by the fact that he was nearly bouncing off the walls despite his twenty-one years. I'm pretty used to all the quirkiness that runs in the family – I do hang out with Caranthir, you know – but some things still surprise me. Glancing at my best guy friend out of the corner of my eye I saw that his face was pretty much expressionless, calm as ever, except for a hint of what might have been either annoyance or amusement. Evidently he was used to this kind of thing.

"I get to sing at the Alqualonde Music Festival!" Maglor almost sang, picking me up and swinging me around.

"Great to see you too, Maglor," I choked out whilst whirling in the air. Well, I wasn't going to complain about getting free-hugged by the latest and greatest music sensation in all of Aman – who also happened to be pretty hot, too. Not that I was ever going to admit to Caranthir that I thought all of his brothers were hot. Well, maybe not the twins – they were still only twelve.

Celegorm walked in shortly afterwards and greeted me with his customary drawl, ignoring his brother's eye-rolling.

"Heyyy, Avasarie. Wanna go hang out or something?"

No longer was Caranthir's face calm. Now his countenance wore a somewhat pissed-off expression as he hastily grabbed me and said,

"No, Avasarie's hanging out with me today." I shot him a look of confusion. I wasn't opposed to the idea of hanging out with Celegorm for a while. Despite what he says, I don't think his brother is the psychopath Caranthir claims him to be.

"You want to tell me what that was about?" I asked.

"Haven't you noticed anything weird about the way Celegorm's been treating you for the last, I don't know, twelve years, maybe?" he shot back exasperatedly. It was a very weird question, even for Caranthir. But, no, I hadn't noticed anything particularly weird about Celegorm's behaviour.

"Not really." His face darkened.

"Has it ever occurred to you that he likes you?"

"No – does he?"

"Of course. And it's blatantly obvious," he muttered quietly.

I was telling the truth, though, when I said that it hadn't occurred to me that Celegorm liked me. No such realisation had ever dawned on me before. If he did, his way of showing that he liked me was strange, I must admit, as 'emo-ette' is not exactly the most flattering term he could have used. But what puzzled me even more were Caranthir's mysterious look and his evident concern. He watched me with dark eyes that held some unreadable expression. Why was he overreacting? It was almost as if jealousy had a part in his behaviour. But I brushed this thought aside, mentally snorting at the idea. Caranthir and I were friends. We always were. We always would be. And never more than that. Twelve years, eh? Had he been counting?

"Why should it matter to you at all if I did?" I asked after an awkward pause. Caranthir sighed.

"Because Celegorm is my brother, and besides that, he's weird." Was that it? It was a relief. But it didn't stop me from getting annoyed. I was allowed to like who I wanted, wasn't I? A sudden wave of frustration surged in me as I snapped, maybe a little more harshly than I intended,

"At least I've known him for ages. You already like Menelya after talking to her for one day." Now it was Caranthir's turn to be surprised. Ha. For once his thought was clear. _How do you know?_ I smiled ironically. Ah, because I do.

"So you like him then?" he asked. This time he looked a little hurt. It wasn't as much the question that threw me but his look. I'd never hurt him before and I almost immediately repented. Maybe I shouldn't have brought Menelya up. It was Caranthir's weakness to just fall in love with random people. He seemed to have good perception, to be able to assess someone's character after only a short time, and he was good at it. But I was a little stung by the fact that he liked her, and I couldn't figure out why. It was probably that I personally didn't really like Menelya – she struck me as a bit of a flirt – but maybe she was alright. I trusted his judgement.

Did I like Celegorm? Lords, _I_ didn't know. I thought he was pretty hot. And he was always nice – well, to me, at least. But I hadn't really thought about it. We stared at each other with irritation.

I was just grateful that Curufin turned up at that moment to say that there was someone here to see the both of us before we ended up having an argument over nothing.

Fortunately he'd gotten over it by the time Bob rocked up at the door to tell us about Vorondil's party and the next day it was alright again. Whew. The only problem we were confronted with was how to get there.

"So how are we going to sort this one out?" I asked. "There's no way your dad's going to let you go. He just barely tolerates Maedhros going out."

"Yeah, I know." We both sat there thinking things out.

"You could ask one of your cousins to cover for you," I suggested slowly. His eyes lit up at the idea.

"I don't know why I didn't think of it before! What would I do without you to do all the thinking for me?" he asked with a grin.

"Very bored and stupid," I answered, returning the smile.

"Probably. Now which one of my worthy cousins can I sponge off?"

I said the first random name that came into my head. "Finrod, maybe?"

"Finrod." He considered this for a moment before shrugging. "Sounds good enough to me. Let's go see him."

As we walked there I saw a blonde girl walking in the opposite direction. Please, not Menelya, or Caranthir would get caught up with her and we'd be stuck out there on the street for hours. As she came closer, though, I saw that it was not Menelya but Finrod's friend Amarie. She smiled pleasantly and said hey before leaving.

Caranthir and I exchanged glances. The amorous developments between Finrod and Amarie were constantly watched, whether they knew it or not, and proved an immense source of amusement for the whole family. The only problem was, the perceived amorous developments were almost non-existent because Finrod, outgoing as he was, could not find it within himself to tell Amarie how he felt and delayed it as long as he could.

Finrod looked a little confused to find us on his doorstep. Surprise, surprise, the first question he asked was something like this,

"Um, are you guys like –" with a little gesture to accompany his words. I rolled my eyes.

"No, we're not." He still looked unconvinced.

I let Caranthir talk, and when he had finished Finrod cracked a smile.

"Alright, but don't blame me if you guys get busted."

I don't actually remember too much about what we all did that night at Vorondil's party, with the exception of Caranthir getting drunk and a little incident of my own. Caranthir just wandered off and I saw him later talking with Menelya. I'm not a real party-girl at all so this was all pretty new to me. This dude, who'd probably had a few by the looks of things, came along while I was getting bored and we just chatted away for a while.

"What's your name again?" he asked.

"I'm Avasarie," I answered. To my astonishment he suddenly flung his arm around me and said happily,

"Cool. Nice name. I like it. You too." I looked up at him, annoyed.

"Do you mind?"

"Not at all."

With that he got a little bit too close for my liking, and I struck out with a yell and stood over his prostrate form. This sparked a fight, and what was worse was that I was caught up in the middle of it. I peered over the top of the raging battle and saw Caranthir somewhere near pass out.

"Holy Calacirya," I muttered. What to do now? I couldn't even get out of where I was just then, what with crowds of half-drunk teenagers pressing on all sides. Suddenly a hand reached for my arm and yanked me out. Scowling I snatched my elbow away, but seeing it was only Maedhros I heaved a sigh of relief.

"Good, you're here," I breathed. A look of puzzlement crossed his face.

"Caranthir's just passed out," I explained.

"Where is he?" he asked, and I pointed him out. The both of us rushed along and Maedhros leaned over his brother.

"Yo. Wake up." Caranthir's eyelashes fluttered for a moment before he awoke. Finding himself in the clutches of two figures he suddenly frowned and said,

"Wha – ? I think I'm going to pass out or something."

"Yeah, yeah, you did. Up you get." We got him to his shaky feet and stumbled outside with him, Maedhros on one side and me on the other. Once he was sober I would be giving him a piece of my mind – making me drag him all the way back to Finarfin's house with him rambling about every random thing he could think of! Arrgh!

"Um, dude?" I queried after a while, "How much have you had?"

"I've lost count," he answered. "Valar, my head hurts."

"That's why you shouldn't go having huge piss-ups on an empty stomach."

"You sound like Maedhros."

"Hey! I'm right here, you know."

"Sorry."

"I don't lecture you like that, either. The hell?"

"Ah, well. I can't even see straight – what, you expect me to think straight as well?"

"Whoop! Don't go walking into trees like that." I helped him steady himself. I just hoped that his Uncle Finarfin wouldn't mind having his drunk nephew dragged into the house only barely kept from falling asleep on the spot by his friend and older brother.

"Heyyy, I recognise this joint!" said Caranthir. I raised an eyebrow at him.

"Since when do you talk like Celegorm?"

"Ugh. I can't let myself do _that_."

Fortunately it was Finrod who opened the door when we knocked. Looking at his cousin he tut-tutted and led us all into the house.

"Your dad's not anywhere around, is he?" asked Maedhros, looking around nervously. Finrod shook his head.

"Nah. Went with Mum to his brother's for dinner and they haven't come back yet. They probably won't be back till morning, knowing how they talk."

"Who talks? Who's not back yet?"

"Shut up, Caranthir."

"We probably better get him off to bed."

"You don't mind him staying here?" queried Caranthir's older bro.

"Nah. He was supposed to stay here, anyway. At least he won't be lying anymore."

"Fair enough. Avasarie, would you mind helping?"

With that we managed to guide him upstairs. By this time he was tired and wasn't keeping up the constant stream of talking. Maedhros said he'd be back soon and left me there with Caranthir. The latter sat down on the bed and said with a smile,

"Your hair looks good like that." Before I could say so much as, 'huh?' he'd fallen back, snoring.


	6. A Royal Rager

**A Royal Rager**

Caranthir

The splitting headache I awoke with the next morning was evidently the result of last night's piss-up, the memories of which came in only brief snatches. Apart from the Menelya incident, of course. However with growing astonishment I realised that I was staying in a room in Uncle Finarfin's house, and it occurred to me that said uncle may not appreciate having to accommodate a very hung over nephew in his fancy seaside residence. That having dawned on me I attempted to sit up but the effort was exhausting – not to mention painful – and with a groan I sank back into the pillows.

"You alright?" Looking up I saw a familiar face leaning over me.

"I think so," I murmured. "I've just got a really, _really_ bad headache." Maedhros smiled.

"First time tends to be like that."

"Someone could've told me that earlier," I muttered, making another attempt to sit up. "You know what, I could've sworn I saw you last night. I thought I saw this guy that looked just like you."

"That _was_ me, idiot."

"Oh." I paused for a moment. Man, I must've been totally out of it not to have recognised my own brother. "What were you doing there, anyway?"

Maedhros shrugged. "Hey, I know about everything that goes on around here."

"Even teenage parties? Dude, you're like 25."

"Shut up."

"Whatever. Did I do anything stupid?" My oldest brother frowned for a moment in thought. I sat there nervously. Valar, I hoped I hadn't done anything worse than making out with one of Galadriel's friends. If I had been caught dancing, singing or anything related I would've died right there in Uncle Finarfin's house and earned myself a one-way ticket to the Halls of Mandos. There is a reason why Maglor's singing talent is considered very unusual – no one in my family can sing. At all. Try listening to my dad – I'm certain that Grandpa's mangy cat can sing better.

"Not that I can think of," he said slowly.

My cousin came in at that moment grinning, accompanied by Avasarie.

"Going out raging without your parents knowing and coming back with a major hangover? Tut, tut." I rolled my eyes. As if Finrod can talk.

"Shut up. What happened after I passed out?" Avasarie at this point ensconced herself on the end of the bed and answered,

"Well. You just collapsed and after you woke up you made us practically carry you home, because you were completely and utterly out of it. Oh, and you told Maedhros that you were thinking of stealing one of those cool Telerin ships from the port one day."

Despite my aching head I sat bolt upright. That was ridiculous. "I did not!"

"You did so. And all of us stumbled home having to put up with your incoherent mumblings the whole way."

I was more than a little surprised. "Thanks for the. . .enlightenment."

"No worries. How're you feeling, anyway?"

"Not too bad, right now. My leg hurts."

She looked concerned for a moment. "Most people's heads hurt when they've been drinking. Are you sure you're alright?"

"You're sitting on my leg, Avasarie."

"Oh! Sorry." With that she moved aside. But not before giving me a strange look.

It was only then that I remembered one other thing.

I'd told Avasarie that her hair looked good.

Crap.

Outwardly that didn't look like a huge deal, but unfortunately it was. What if she took it the wrong way? I don't think I meant it that way – did I? It didn't make any sense. No way – I liked Menelya. I think. Though come to think of it, I didn't even know Menelya that well. What the hell had I done last night? Shit, I wasn't sure of anything anymore. All I could hope was that Avasarie didn't remember what I'd said to her.

But judging by the look that had just crossed her face I knew she did remember, although she probably wouldn't say anything.

Damn. Well, that was it – if being sociable meant confusing yourself with girl problems and sneaking out to wild parties and waking up feeling like you'd been hit by a chariot, I was going to stay in my own world, thankyou very much.

And that's what I told Galadriel – without the girl problems part – when she turned up in the room as well.

"Ugh, what is with you guys just coming in like that? Is this some sort of family reunion?"

Maedhros looked rather amused.

"The perpetual grumpiness and sarcasm remain." I rolled my eyes and then told Galadriel that her attempts at socially reforming me could now be set aside, because I wasn't going to go on any of her crazy ventures again. Not that this one was her fault – Vorondil was the one that organised it, although Galadriel got me invited.

"Well, no one told you to get drunk," said my unsympathetic cousin. Well, that was true. I hate not having any excuses.

"Ah, well." I put my hands up behind my head. "I'm just glad it's Saturday. I can sleep in without worrying about any more freakin' social events."

Finrod and Maedhros exchanged glances. The former cleared his throat.

"Ahem. Uh, yeah. Caranthir? There's this thing on tonight –"

" – and obviously you're going to have to turn up –"

Argh! Could my life possibly get any worse?

" – even if you're hung over."

Oh, great.

Well, the 'thing' turned out to be some sort of fancy to-do, organised by some rich guy of course and which would be the exact opposite of last night's rager. I don't particularly like those royal get-togethers, because of all the snobs and etiquette and, quite frankly, the tediousness. I get bored out of my brains at those things. But the prospects of having to hang out at some joint, zonked, bored and with a major headache, were, needless to say, not looking good.

By this time I'd managed to drag myself, with considerable effort, out of bed. Glancing in the mirror nearly made me jump out of my skin. Yes, that is a cliché, but very true. My hair was a mess and my eyes were the most abnormal shade of red I'd ever seen. I looked bad, even for me.

Celegorm happened to answer the door when we got home.

"You're lucky Dad's out," he said. Then he caught sight of me. "Holy Calacirya. So that's what happens when you get out. Seriously, man. I always knew your aim in life was to be a homeless derro. Now you even look like one."

"Dude, at least I _have_ an aim in life. Yours is nancing around and tossing your hair and reciting poems at your own wonderful reflection."

"How about you shut the Udun up, emo?"

"How about no?"

Maedhros sighed. "Is it just me, or do all of your conversations end the same way?" The both of us turned around.

"Shut up!"

OoO

The Royal Rager, as Maglor so reverently referred to it, was already starting by the time we got there. It was one of the few events to which I wore my hair in one of those more elaborate hair dos (because Amrod dared me - it certainly wasn't my idea) instead of just tying it back with a strip of leather like I usually do. Because, unlike Celegorm, I don't give a crap how my hair looks. I'm a guy – am I supposed to care? Dad happened to notice my outfit as we were walking in.

"Caranthir, must you always wear – black? To a social event?"

I nodded.

"It's too morbid," he protested.

I shrugged.

"Hey, I like morbid. And everyone thinks I'm an emo anyway, so I may as well look the part."

He shook his head, undoubtedly lamenting the eccentricity of his fourth son. Well, it's not like he hasn't got a bit of a reputation for being strange. "Where do you get these ideas, boy?" he asked incredulously, giving me a strange look and walking away.

Lords. Even my _dad_ thinks I'm weird. That's just embarrassing.

I slunk off to eat at one of the tables to avoid having to talk to all those snobby rich people. To dad's credit, he doesn't particularly like them either, but as the eldest Prince of the Royal Family he has to attend all these functions, putting up with the boredom without actually looking bored. But the advantage I had was that if anyone noticed me they stayed away, because I'm that 'odd son of Feanor' and therefore probably not worth talking to. If they happened to talk to me I never stood on ceremony. I never did see the point in being polite and looking interested if you're not.

Obviously as I was standing there I got some weird looks, to which I responded by pulling faces. Immature in the extreme, but fun. I felt someone tug on the back of my hair and whipped around in annoyance, but seeing that it was Avasarie I relaxed.

"Hey, do not mess with the hair," I said with a grin. "I actually bothered to do it up for once, so don't wreck it. You should be proud of me."

"I am. It looks good." She stopped there. I stared at her, wondering what that was supposed to mean. Was that some sort of reference to what I'd told her in my drunk state last night? I felt my cheeks heat up slightly.

"Hey, guys!" We turned to see a familiar-looking girl standing there with a grin.

"Bob?" I asked. "What are you doing here?"

She sighed. "Alright, alright, I admit it. I'm a snobby rich kid too."

"You don't look like one," I remarked, well aware that I was talking with my mouth full. Avasarie leaned over and whispered,

"You know, for someone who's supposedly part of the Royal Family, you're severely lacking in manners."

"Shut up. So, Bob, you having fun?"

"Truckloads. Is Curufin here?"

"Someone say my name?" My younger brother rocked up out of no-where and a mad grin lit up his face when he saw Bob. She blushed a little. Ah, young love. Yuck.

The only thing I was worried about was the fact that Curufin plus food equalled, erm, bodily exhalations. I bit my lip. It was his loss if he put Bob off but what I didn't want was the horrible noise echoing round the hall and feeling all the eyes of the snobs burning into me. I may be an anti-social nonconformist but drawing attention to myself through the stupidity of my brothers was just humiliating. Why did I have to get stuck with such an idiot for a brother? I may not be the most fastidious observer of all the rules of etiquette but I don't belch in front of girls (unless it's Avasarie, because she doesn't care). I just hoped Curufin would keep his gaseous exploits to himself.

He didn't.

The hall went quiet. Everyone in the room stared at him in shock. _Shite, bugger and damn_, I thought, feeling myself turn red, wishing that the Valar would kill me there and then.

But I guess things didn't turn out that badly for Curufin after all because Bob responded by a burp that was twice as loud – I swear I saw the chandelier quiver.

Of course, all the rich dudes muttered amongst themselves over the puerile antics of today's young people, not that Curufin and Bob cared that much.

"Hey, Menelya might rock up later, you know," said Bob, before turning around and wandering off with Curufin, presumably talking about their shared. . .talents. I wouldn't mind seeing Menelya again. I turned to Avasarie, who was standing there quietly and shaking with laughter.

"Want to go do something fun?' I asked.

"Sure. Like what?"

OoO

Avasarie

More than once I have heard people say in their ignorance that Caranthir is strange, mysterious, has no sense of humour except for what shows in his sarcastic remarks. But obviously they don't know him like I do and when it's just us two, 'fun' usually means stupidity in one form or another. Caranthir has a streak of immaturity that he doesn't usually show.

Instead of standing on the roof of some building like we were the day I got invited to Alqualonde, we were at the top of a grand staircase which commanded a full view of the, ahem, royal rager, as Maglor put it. And our missiles – olives.

People's heads would snap upwards in shock as squashy olives seemed to fall from the ceiling. Hey, don't look at me – it was his idea. Not that I blame him in the least – when you get placed into situations where you nearly bore yourself out of your senses, you tend to rediscover your powers of imagination.

_Plink!_

"Crud, that landed in someone's wine!" I snorted. Caranthir nearly fell over laughing, and I cautiously leaned over to see who it was. But something unfortunate accosted my sight.

Bob mentioned that Menelya might be turning up sometime. As it turned out, Menelya was already there. With some guy. And by the looks of things, they were making out.

_Crap_, I thought, in a panic. If Caranthir saw it I knew something nasty would happen. He has anger management problems and if something sets him off he explodes. The poor guy thought they were practically going out already. He got up and I stood in front of him, trying to make sure he wouldn't see.

But he did.


	7. The Most Quick To Anger

There – I tried to update as soon as I could to keep all of you happy. I'm on holidays now so the updates should be a little more frequent, for the next two weeks at least!

**The Most Quick To Anger**

Avasarie

Well, so much for that. Inwardly I groaned. _Please, Caranthir, don't do anything stupid!_

If anyone's eyes could literally burn with fury, it was Caranthir as he marched away with a look of mingled surprise and wrath to confront Menelya. I'd never seen him so angry before – but nor had I seen him so controlled. Usually when he's angry he doesn't exercise any control at all. Celegorm has told me before that Caranthir doesn't show emotion apart from anger, that he doesn't have feelings, but he's wrong. Having no real choice I followed after him as he stormed off, silently thanking the Valar that his rage wasn't directed at me.

Menelya happened to turn around at that moment and her face went white. I nearly felt sorry for her.

"Hey, Menelya," said Caranthir almost cheerfully. He could have been talking over a casual glass of wine, if it hadn't been for the edge beneath his voice.

"Um, hey." Her voice came out shakily. "I know this might look a little wrong, but I –"

"Please do." He didn't allow her to finish her sentence.

She sighed. "I do like you, I really do, but – just not in that way." The dude who was with her looked immensely confused.

"What's going on?" he asked, puzzled. Caranthir ignored him.

"What do you mean, 'not in that way'?" he snapped. "What do you call what you did at Vorondil's?"

"That didn't mean anything!"

Caranthir froze. But it did mean something, to him it did. It bothered him that people didn't accept him for who he was, because he wasn't academically smart like Curufin, or popular like Maedhros, or a musical genius like Maglor. He was just Caranthir. He thought maybe he'd found someone else who didn't give a damn that he wasn't all the things people expected him to be. It wasn't something he'd really admit, which I guess is why his brothers and everyone else just came to the conclusion that he doesn't have feelings. Maybe he was overreacting. But it was wrong of her to just lead him on like that. There was an awkward pause as the words settled in the air.

"I'm sorry," said Menelya. "You were drunk, and I'd had a few too many as well."

"Does that make a difference?" he muttered.

"No. No, I guess it doesn't." We all stood there for a very uncomfortable moment.

"If you didn't really like me, you shouldn't have told me so." He said it quietly.

"I know, and I'm sorry. I just don't think we'd work out."

He shook his head. "No, you're right." He looked as if he were about to go, but turned around again. "We wouldn't work out. Because I'm honest and I don't use people."

And with that he was gone.

OoO

Caranthir

I went off home, not really knowing where else to go to get some decent food and calm down. I slumped onto the couch with a bowl of soup, a carrot, two of Mum's bread rolls and five large helpings of chocolate cake. Screw anyone who tried to tell me that I'd eaten their slice, screw anyone who said chocolate was bad for you and for that matter, screw the world. I was sick of having to please people. Life sucked.

I didn't know who I was more angry at – Menelya, for misleading me, or myself, for my own stupidity. I was surprised at myself for not completely cracking it – Menelya had, after all, practically lied to me; even if she had been tipsy there wasn't any excuse for lying. But I was actually more mad at myself. The words I had last spoken to her still rang in my ears. Maybe I'd been too harsh on her. _I'd_ been the one who'd made a made a mess of things, by liking a girl I didn't know that well and for just making assumptions. Why did I have such a bad temper? Here I was, with no real talent and no life, stuck with major social interaction problems and anger management issues. I'm the weird, the not-so-good-looking son of Feanor, who would, as his brother had told him before, wind up a hobo on the street at the age of seventeen and a half. Joy. Really looking forward to that one.

With these cheerful thoughts in mind I wandered to the mirror in the hall. I never did think that I looked like the emo that people claimed me to be – I didn't even have the whole emo-do going, you know, the mascara and the hair and the clothes. A pallid face wearing a puzzled expression stared back with wide, dark eyes and wisps of dark hair falling over his forehead. Well, it certainly wasn't Celegorm, or charming Maglor, or Maedhros with the flame-red hair who had a girl slam into a pole just by looking at him in the street one day. Me, on the other hand, I looked like something Grandpa's cat had dragged in.

But enough of all that angsty stuff – I sure we don't all want to hear about I gave self-pity a free rein for the first time in ages, while I brooded there stormily with enough chocolate cake to feed Tulkas the Strong after a fight. Seriously, that guy can eat. The door suddenly slammed shut, rudely disturbing my thoughts.

"Hey, where have you been, loser?" sneered an all-too-familiar voice. My anger suddenly flared up again. Why should I have to cop crap from Celegorm all the time, anyway?

"I am in no mood," I hissed, "to put up with shit from anyone, least of all you, so piss off."

Celegorm really did look taken aback, either because I sounded scary or because I didn't usually use that sort of language.

"Dude." He sat down in a nearby armchair. I glared at him and he heaved a sigh. "Look, I know I can be an arsehole but we're brothers. So talk, man." When I looked up I saw that the usual arrogant sneer had disappeared from his face and was replaced with what looked like. . .that wasn't brotherly concern, was it? Now it was my turn to be surprised. He looked so different. I was only half-joking when I backed up against the couch and said,

"Who are you and what the hell did you do to Celegorm?" He ignored me and casually helped himself to some cake.

"It's girl problems, isn't it?" he said. "Thought so. And stop gaping at me, dude – it looks revolting." I obediently complied. For once.

"How did you know?" I asked.

"Because I basically did the same thing as you're doing when I had a bad fight with my first girlfriend. Now, I can't figure out who would want to go out with you, but –"

"We weren't really going out in the first place."

"Right. Explanation, please."

"Okay. There was this girl, I liked her, she told me she liked me and then I found her not so long ago with this dude and I overreacted and now I'm depressed." Celegorm nodded.

"Would this girl happen to be Avasarie, by any chance?" I raised my eyebrows.

"No! Why would you think that?"

"Because."

"That's not an answer."

"Fine. Because there's something there between you guys, and you two seem to be the only ones completely oblivious to the fact."

"As if! She's my best friend."

"That's what they all say."

I sat there for a moment to think about it. I didn't like her in that way, I was sure of it. And I was certain that she didn't like me. I dismissed it as probably just some load of nonsense, characteristic of my older brother.

"What about you?" I ventured to ask after a pause. "I thought you liked her."

"I do – but – well, Avasarie can explain that to you. She's cool, but we wouldn't work out." I rolled my eyes.

"And you wouldn't listen to me when I told you that. Smart one, dumb one."

"At least your sarcasm hasn't been affected. I'm gonna choof off. You coming?" I shook my head.

"Nah. I'm staying here. It's all good."

I watched him walk off and heard the door slam again. _Avasarie can explain that to you_, he'd said. I wondered what the Udun that was supposed to mean.


	8. Another Random Chapter

**Another Random Chapter**

Avasarie

I've said before that I never really had too much patience with Menelya. After watching Caranthir's swiftly receding form vanish I whipped around.

"What the hell did you do to him?" I demanded.

"I—wha—I don't—" was all that came from the bewildered and very upset Vanyarin girl.

"Look," I said, turning to the dude who was standing with her, "I don't mean to be rude but would you mind—Aeron?" I blinked. I knew I'd recognized him from somewhere. Now it was my turn to be surprised. No wonder Caranthir was annoyed – Aeron knew perfectly well how much he liked Menelya, no doubt informed, of course, by Galadriel. He looked very embarrassed and muttering something he disappeared quickly, no doubt glad to escape from the awkwardness. I turned back to Menelya.

"Okay. So, do you actually like Caranthir, or what?"

"Yes—but not like that, no. He's random and cool to hang out with, and I like him a lot as a friend, and I'll even go so far as to say that he's hot, contrary to what he thinks," she ranted. "But I just don't think we'd really—go together, you know."

"So why did you kiss him?" I asked. Inwardly I was asking myself why I was getting up in all this—I mean, it was his problem to sort out and here I was just interfering. And I was also getting worried about the fact that I was so defensive of him, even though it was equally his fault.

"He was off his face and I was nearly as out of it as he was," Menelya replied. "I shouldn't have done it. I never meant to hurt him." She was trying not to cry.

This is where I did the unthinkable and found myself giving her a hug and comforting her. I told her that, knowing Caranthir, it was best to leave him alone for a while until he had calmed down. Mentally I pictured him hanging around at home in his depression and most likely eating. I would have rolled my eyes but it was a serious moment and definitely no time for sarcasm.

"I need to ask you a favour," said Menelya, wiping her red eyes (she really was a sensitive girl).

"What?"

"You need to tell him how sorry I am and give him a hug for me or something. I know for sure he'll listen to you if you talk to him."

I raised an eyebrow. "Why? When he's this pissed even I have to mind what I say around him."

"Because—because you guys are so close and everything. And he obviously likes you, so he'll listen." I felt my eyes widen. Good Lords. What a comment to make at a time like this. What did she mean, he liked me?

"I—wha?" My answer was about as coherent as Menelya's at the beginning of my inquisition.

"I think I'll get going," she sniffled. "I hope Caranthir doesn't stay mad at me for too long."

"He'll be pretty mad for a long time," said Celegorm, suddenly appearing at Menelya's elbow.

"Who are you?" asked Menelya, though obviously raking him up and down. Celegorm didn't seem to mind the attention.

"I'm Caranthir's bro. And I'm supposing you're Menelya."

"Yeah. That's me."

"Well, he's pretty pissed at you. He nearly had a fit when I went off to see what he was up to just then. He called you a – hey, don't cry like that. He'll forgive you eventually." He put his arm around her and led her off, with quiet words of reassurance. I couldn't help rolling my eyes then. Trust Celegorm to take advantage of the situation like that. She turned around.

"Talk to him, please?"

"Yeah, alright," I mumbled.

"Avasarie?" I turned around and nearly found my nose in Feanor's chest. I jumped about three feet backwards, to which he responded by giving me a strange look, no doubt wondering why I was so edgy. "Have you seen Caranthir? I have a sneaking suspicion that he went home."

"Oh. Uh, I wouldn't be surprised – he doesn't really like these rich people party things."

"And you think I do?" asked Caranthir's dad with a long-suffering sigh. I looked at him in surprise. "I only go because I have to. He didn't tell you where he was going?"

I shook my head. "He kinda left in a huff a while ago."

"I'm surprised he didn't tell you where he was going. Well, I think I'll end up leaving in a huff sooner or later, what with these – admirable people – leering in my face all the time. We'll get going in about half an hour, alright?"

"Okay." I suppressed a giggle as he blended into the crowd. So that's where Caranthir gets his sarcasm from, I thought. Admirable people. Ha.

We did go home pretty soon afterward and I was curious to know where Caranthir was. I went past the loungeroom downstairs and heard him before I saw him, the noise emanating from the room. The guy snores louder than the whole House of Finwe put together. Everyone else just went quietly upstairs and wisely decided not to disturb him – even bossy Dad didn't bother.

"Yo, Curufin?" Startled, he looked up and saw my head sticking in through the doorway of his room.

"Yeah?"

"Don't think I didn't see what you were getting up to with Bob just before," I said with an evil grin. His face turned bright red.

"How the –"

"How many times do I have to tell you guys that I know everything?" I asked, in mock exasperation.

"Yeah, well – don't tell Dad, or I'll kick your arse."

I stuck my tongue out. "You can't. I'm a girl." I ran off before he could carry out his threat – though I doubt he would have, anyway.

I don't know what in all the Blessed Realm possessed me to get up in the middle of the night just to talk to Caranthir. Ah, well. Teenage problems – they do tend to keep you awake. I knew that if I didn't do something to calm his cheesed spirits he was likely to take it out on the rest of us for the next few days. And I did tell Menelya I would talk to him.

He was still sleeping soundly when I tiptoed into the loungeroom. I didn't blame him – he'd barely gotten any sleep at all, what with his partying all night with Galadriel's friends and then the whole thing at the 'royal rager'. The light from the lantern I was carrying spilled over his face, at which I barely suppressed a gasp. He looked - good. His scowl had disappeared and he looked so peaceful; definitely a change from when I saw him last. I don't know how long I stood there admiring my best friend's features but when I moved closer with the light he awoke with a start. Apparently finding himself in the clutches of a shadowy figure swinging a lantern in his face was not at all to his liking and he sent up a yell.

"Shush!" I hissed. "Don't you realise everyone's still asleep?"

"Yeah, everyone – including me, until just now," he grumbled. "Holy stars, you scared me."

"Sorry. Do you want me to go?" I turned to leave but he shook his head vehemently and tugged on my clothes.

"No, no – it's alright. Stay." He moved over so there was enough room for me to sit next to him on the couch. "Just put the thing on the – yeah." I placed the lantern on the table, once more admiring the way the light and shadow played on his face. He must have noticed I was staring at him, because he said,

"Why are you looking at me like that?"

I quickly diverted my gaze. "Nothing." There was a silence for a while.

"How's Menelya?" he asked quietly.

"She's okay." Silence again.

"I shouldn't have talked to her like that. I'm such an idiot."

"Sometimes, yes," I muttered. Instead of his temper flaring up he laughed.

"Yeah, I know. I get told that all the time. She still mad at me?"

"Not really. Just upset. You really scared her, you know. Oh, that reminds me – she told me to apologise profusely to you for her."

"Really? That was nice of her." He didn't look cross anymore. In fact, he looked a little amused.

"Oh, you know what?" he said after a moment. "Celegorm mentioned – um, I don't know, did something happen between you two the other day?"

"Oh, that? He asked me out."

"What?" He sat up, looking a little annoyed. I grinned.

"No need to get all defensive. Nothing happened."

"That's okay, then." He almost sounded relieved. Well, I knew the reason for that – he'd had no problem telling me a while back that it would just be plain weird for me to go out with his brother. Come to think of it, it probably would be. "Did he say anything else?"

"No." _Bulldust_, I thought. When Celegorm had asked me out I somehow felt like I had seen it coming. Caranthir had warned me about it, after all. After thinking for a moment, I told him no.

"Why?" he'd asked.

"Because – I just can't."

Celegorm raised an eyebrow. "It's because you like someone else, isn't it?"

"What? No!" I lied.

"It's cool. I can live with that," he continued. "Besides, you'd probably be better off going out with, I don't know, Caranthir, maybe?"

"Alright, now I really don't know what you're on about."

"Have it your way," he said. "But I know you like someone and who it is."

"As if you do," I replied, punching him in the arm. He was just trying to tease me, and the matter dropped without anything getting awkward. But unfortunately, he was right about one thing. And I was not about to admit, to Celegorm, or to anyone else, least of all myself, that I was starting to like Caranthir Feanorion.


	9. Dear Diary: Mood, Apathetic

**Dear Diary: Mood, Apathetic**

(or, a meaningless conversation on the beach)

Caranthir

"Don't worry, bro," said Maedhros sympathetically when I finally got up and went into the kitchen. "The first girl's always the hardest to get over." I blinked at him.

This was an obvious indication that somehow news of what had happened last night was known to the rest of the family. When I asked about it the answer was, unsurprisingly, one word – Galadriel. Go figure.

Celegorm had evidently returned to his usual self by this time.

"Why so glum?" I queried when he came in, his usually perfect blond hair a mess. "Couldn't find a comb?"

"Shut up, idiot," came his mumbled response. This elicited a sigh from Dad.

"Honestly, boys. It's only ten o'clock in the morning," he said exasperatedly.

"It's never too early to fight with your brothers," I replied cheerfully. I was actually quite surprised at myself for not being in a bad mood, especially remembering what my older brothers' reactions were to having fights with a girl they really liked. Maedhros had moped for days in another world, Maglor sat around in his room strumming his lyre and wailing mournful songs and Celegorm would snap at everyone for no particular reason. Well – actually, that last one wasn't that infrequent.

When I next turned around I found Avasarie plonked next to me with one of Mum's brownies. I raised an eyebrow.

"You're eating that for breakfast?" I asked. She grinned.

"Fresh out of the oven. Gotta say, your mum's an awesome cook."

"Starting the day requires a well-balanced meal. According to Orodreth, anyway. Chocolate, therefore, probably doesn't constitute a well-balanced meal."

"Why wouldn't it? A well-balanced meal comprises chocolate in both hands," she answered, brushing a lock of hair aside. "It's good stuff. Here, have some."

Despite the fact that I'd demolished nearly half a large cake the night before my appetite had in no way diminished. And, like she said, mum's an awesome cook. So I returned with the entire tray.

"Um," said Avasarie after a moment. "Are you okay? I mean, after what happened –"

"Yeah, I'm fine," I answered with my mouth full. And I meant it – I had promised myself while I was dozing off that I was under no circumstances going to angst about the whole thing. Unlike my brothers. I happened to look up and Avasarie was staring at me through her heavily mascara-ed eyes, in the same way I'd seen her do last night. It was incredibly uncomfortable and quickly the both of us looked away.

_That_ wasn't supposed to happen.

Well, it could hardly be called romantic, what with us slumping on the most ancient of couches and gaping at each other with a mouthful of brownie. Suddenly a loud chord shook the walls and Maglor's powerful voice resounded throughout the house with his latest hit 'Saturday Morning', which he'd informed me was based upon my own experience a few days ago. Thanks, Maglor. I have to say, he was getting quite good – Dad, however, did not seem to share the same opinion.

"_MAGLOR!_" roared Dad when my brother got around to his lyre solo. I stood up.

"You know what? I think we should get outta here before Dad gets himself all worked up."

"I agree." She disappeared and a moment later returned dragging a reluctant Maglor along, who was still carrying his lyre and loudly protesting.

Everyone walking past probably did have a good cause for throwing us the strange looks that they did. After all, that was how any normal person would react upon seeing such a large group of young people sitting around on the beach and talking about nothing in particular. The aforementioned group consisted of myself, Avasarie, my brothers and all of my cousins. Except for Orodreth – I assumed he was probably cooped up indoors making a study on the percentage of people that passed his window that wore hats. He was just as random as the rest of us, in his own nerdy way.

"So," said Aegnor casually to Curufin. "What was your girlfriend's name again?"

For all of Curufin's complete and utter lack of embarrassment in most situations he was actually blushing a little. "Bob," he replied. Fingon raised an eyebrow.

"Bob?" he snorted. "What kinda name's that?"

Curufin rolled his eyes. "Her hair, idiot. Bob."

"Oh, right. What's her real name, then?"

My brother turned a little pink again. "It's Morifinde," he said in an unusually soft voice. Wow, he really did like the girl.

"Hey, that's a cool name," piped up Amrod. "Dark hair. I wish I didn't—"

"—have to be stuck with red hair," finished Amras. "It looks too—"

"—weird." Fingon grinned at his young red-haired cousins. The twins sometimes talk as if they were one person. I glanced in their direction, where Amrod was burying Amras in the sand. What were _they_ complaining about, anyway? They were only twelve years old and there were already pre-adolescent girls running after the both of them. _I_ certainly don't remember having girls chase after me at that age. That's just embarrassing – my younger brothers are more popular than I am. Maglor was singing now, accompanied by his favourite instrument:

"_And I wish I didn't wake up_

_Cos my head hurts quite a bit_

_And there are all these dudes looking way too concerned_

_And saying 'Holy sh—"_

"Dude," said Maedhros, rolling his eyes, "you're good at singing and all – but seriously, what's with the lyrics?"

Maglor stopped for a moment and pointed at Maedhros. "Hey – people _like_ my lyrics. Allow me to remind you that 'Saturday Morning' has been at the top of the charts for weeks."

"Yeah – and my hangover is gonna be made famous by that song," I added, "and that means _I'll_ be famous. So it can stay there at the top of the freakin' charts for weeks if it wants."

"What's been at the top of the charts for weeks?" asked someone standing behind me. I turned around. Everyone turned around. And fell silent.

For standing there was Orodreth the Nerdy Genius – with dyed-black hair and aqua-coloured streaks running through it.

Galadriel, of course, was the first one to talk. "Sweet Cuivienen," she breathed.

Orodreth calmly sat down next to his loquacious sister, evidently waiting for all of us to recover.

"What possessed you to do _that_?" demanded Galadriel. Orodreth looked a little hurt.

"Don't you like it?" he asked.

"Of course we do!" exclaimed Avasarie. "It looks freaking awesome." Orodreth brightened at that.

"Thankyou, Avasarie. In answer to your earlier question," he said, turning to Galadriel, "it was Aredhel who persuaded me to go and do something – random, I think was how she put it."

"See?" said Aredhel, whom I had not noticed was missing from the group. She sat down in the sand gleefully. "Doesn't he look great?"

"So there is a non-nerdy side to you after all," I commented. "And here I was thinking that you didn't have a streak of fun in you."

"Shut up," he replied, waving his hand nonchalantly.

"Where did you go to get that done?" queried Turgon.

"To the Alqualonde House of Hair, of course."

"Once I actually dreamt that you dyed your hair, Orodreth," remarked his older brother Finrod, brushing out an imperfect knot that dared to make itself known in his impeccable hair. (Finrod sometimes annoys me with his perfection. How can anyone possibly look that good all the time? And why did the good-looking gene of the House of Finwe skip me?)

"Speaking of dreams," interrupted Aredhel, "I had a weird one last night."

"Do tell." Celegorm leaned forward. For someone so selfish he really seemed to like our younger cousin and treated her as if she was his sister. Despite, of course, the fact that the way she dressed sometimes would make her look even more of an 'emo-ette' than even Avasarie.

"Oh, it was weird as. I was wandering around in this random forest and there was a house with this random dude standing around on the doorstep. He was kinda cute, actually, but it was really weird all the same. Galadriel, why are you looking at me like that?"

I looked at Galadriel for a moment. Her usually sunny face now bore a deep frown.

"What's wrong?" asked Maglor, who had stopped playing his lyre to hear Aredhel's random dream. He sounded concerned.

"Nothing," replied Galadriel, but I could see she was holding something back.

"What is it?" I asked. Galadriel has an uncanny ability to read people's dreams and see things in the future. But I didn't want to scare Aredhel – neither did Galadriel, apparently, because she shook her head vigorously and said,

"It's nothing. Really."

A roar suddenly rent the air, putting an end to the seriousness of the moment.

"Aaagh! Sand-monster!" screamed some little kids, running away from what looked like a two-headed ogre. Said ogre was chortling with glee as he turned to face the rest of us. None of us could contain our laughter when it became clear that it was none other than the twins, who had stuck their heads through the same shirt and were now clad in the most ferocious attire of sand and seaweed.

"You little—" said Maedhros, tripping up the 'sand-monster' by grabbing hold of both of their ankles. "Have you been terrorising the little kids?" There was a muffled snort from Amrod in response. Or maybe it was Amras.

"Yes!" Maedhros scowled as he watched them get up off the sand.

"What?" asked Amras innocently. "It's good fun."

"You know what'd be fun?" Maglor stood up and grinned. "Who feels like swimming?"

There was an impromptu race to get into the water – Fingon and Maedhros not excluded, despite their being the oldest. So much for setting a good example, eh?

I was about to race off with everyone else when I noticed that my favourite cousin was still sitting there, staring blankly out over the sea. I was a little worried about her – it just wasn't like Aredhel to brood like that. I sat down next to her.

"What's up?" I asked. She didn't respond for a while. We just sat there. I followed her gaze, which went out to Tol Eressea. Or maybe even beyond. Finally she answered.

"That dream that I had," she said slowly. "Galadriel wasn't saying anything. But there's something wrong, isn't there?" I didn't answer. I felt her hand on mine, and looking up I saw how terrified she was. I gave her a hug and felt her trembling. It was odd – Aredhel was a tough girl. Whatever this dream was, it had disturbed her immensely.

"No," I replied. "It's alright. Probably just a random dream – you know how Galadriel overreacts sometimes." Aredhel sniffed.

"Maybe you're right." She sat up and wiped her eyes. "Besides, the guy in the dream was hot." I grinned at her.

"That's more like it. Come on – today's not the day for moping around." I helped her up and she ran with me to the water, whereupon I was immediately greeted with salt water courtesy of Celegorm. Aredhel didn't dwell on the whole thing for long, letting Fingon piggy-back her around in the water and squealing happily. Amrod unsuccessfully tried to dack Finrod. Avasarie joined me and grinned.

"Your family really is crazy," she said.

Yep. Crazy, they are. But a bloody good family they are too.

_Where are you guys? Please don't give up on me yet!_ :(


	10. Politics and Shopping

**Politics and Shopping**

Avasarie

Caranthir's family really is nuts, but I love hanging out with them. They remind me of my own crazy cousins from Valmar sometimes.

"Is Aredhel okay?" I queried.

"Yeah," he answered. "She was just a little freaked out, that's all." I glanced at Aredhel flapping around and hoisted up on her older brother's shoulders. She didn't look too upset right now. At this random moment in time I happened to remember that I had brought along whatever was left of Nerdanel's brownies when we went out, and the thought was making me hungry.

"I'll be back," I told Caranthir before running off to humour my weird brownie-eating impulse. But we all know what happens when I'm not concentrating, and it so happened that I did not realise that I had tripped over a large black boot until I went flying into the sand with a face plant. Graceful, I know.

A soft chuckle and a deep, melodious voice came from somewhere above me.

"Here, let me help you up."

I took the stranger's black leather-clad hand and quickly steadied myself before looking up at the tall figure before me. I knew exactly who he was, though until now I had never actually come into contact with the guy before. Only Melkor could possibly feel comfortable wearing so much black in the middle of summer. Well, Caranthir might – but he only wears black _clothing_. Melkor wears full-on black _armour_.

"Thanks," I said, brushing sand from my dress.

"No worries," he replied. "You do end up getting used to it after a while."

"What, being tripped over?" He smiled.

"Yes, actually."

I plopped down onto the sand (bottom first, this time) and reached into my bag for the coveted brownies.

"Have a brownie." He solemnly accepted the offering and then sat down, giving me a rather amused look. I don't blame him. Here I was, randomly sharing food with a Vala, and one who was said to have been quite the rebel at one time or another.

"So," he said casually, not sounding at all like the bad-arse of the old tales, "you're one of the royal family?" I shook my head.

"No, I just hang out with them. Feanor's son Caranthir, to be specific." (At this point I happened to catch sight of him and tried not to think about how good he looked without his shirt on). Melkor's gaze went out to where I was staring and a look of sudden understanding came into his eyes. I felt my face heat up a little. Bugger. You can't really hide much from a Vala, especially if he happens to be Manwe's brother.

"Oh, I see. So they do know how to have fun after all." I raised an eyebrow. What in the Blessed Realm was that supposed to mean? "And I'll admit I find it rather – surprising – that Feanor lets you hang out with his sons."

"Surprising? Why?"

"Ah, well – I just thought Feanor might not have approved of having someone not from the higher circles of society hanging out with his family." I shook my head.

"My dad's a smith – for Feanor I guess smiths _are_ the higher circles of society. Feanor's actually a pretty cool guy – he's really not that bad. A little abrupt sometimes, maybe, but he's alright." When I looked up Melkor's eyes momentarily held a look that suggested he wasn't the best of friends with Feanor. I got the impression that he was implying that Feanor was a snob.

"What exactly have you got against him?" I asked, curiously.

"Oh, nothing." He looked a little sad as he said this. "_He_ has something against _me_ – I have no idea why. It's really a great pity, because I love to create things just as he does. We have a lot to learn from one another, but he tends to avoid me."

Feanor was a controversial subject all over Aman – you either liked him or you didn't. He himself didn't give a hoot what people thought, and I guess that's where Caranthir gets it from (because evidently Caranthir had lapsed into his think-what-thou-wilt-because-I-don't-really-give-a-crap attitude, judging by the way he was running around after the twins with seaweed dangling from his hair, which looked very strange). The way Melkor was speaking of him made me uncomfortable. . .however I quickly shook off the feeling, my common sense getting the better of me, and decided promptly to change the subject matter.

"I've heard really weird things about you," I remarked.

"Such as?"

"Such as you being a rebel a while ago, and fighting with the Valar and stuff." He shrugged.

"My co-workers can sometimes exaggerate things. I might have done some wrong things in the past, but what I was only trying to prepare for the coming of the Elves, and Men, of course—"

"Wait, wait, wait – what? The Who?"

"Men. The other children of Iluvatar, of course."

My mouth hung open in a most undignified manner and must have given the Vala a nice view of half-masticated bits of chocolate. _Other_ Children of Iluvatar? Sweet waters of Awakening, that one really threw me. It was perhaps fortunate that Caranthir suddenly appeared behind me, as he has the habit of doing, at this point – I wouldn't have been able to say anything else, I was so surprised.

"You didn't think you could have the brownies all to yourself, did you?" he asked with a grin, reaching out for the bag. It took him a moment to register the Vala's presence – which, by the way, was rather imposing – and when he did, he demanded rather rudely, "Who're you?"

Having managed to pick my jaw up off the ground after Melkor's random piece of information, which I am positive my day would have been better without, I told him, "This is Melkor. Melkor, this is Caranthir."

"Another illustrious Finwean. How's it going?"

"Can't complain," answered said Finwean, a little puzzled. There was an awkward silence for a while. Melkor saw it and decided it was time to get going.

"Well, I'll probably see you both sometime later – even Valar need holidays. Nice meeting you, erm—"

Hey, I'd only just realised that I hadn't even given him my name. "Avasarie."

"Avasarie and Caranthir. Yes, I'll see you later." And with that he stalked off, his black armour clinking as he went.

"What the hell is with that guy?" asked Caranthir, turning to me. "I'm sure even his undies are made of black iron." I grinned.

"Wouldn't be surprised. Hey, he sorta mentioned that your dad doesn't like him. That true?"

"Yeah. I think so, anyways."

"Why?"

"Just doesn't trust him. But then again, my dad doesn't trust anyone. I'm not too sure that I'd trust someone that wanders around in black armour all the time — hey, are you okay there?" I must have looked worried. The thought of there being something that the Valar had been hiding from us all this time was starting to get to me. If it got out there would be major political turmoil or something – but at the same time I had to tell someone. And seeing as Caranthir was there. . .

"Holy Calacirya," he muttered when I finished explaining what Melkor had said.

"I know." He looked really worried.

"I think," he said eventually, "that this really doesn't have anything to do with us, but if it gets out, we'll all be — I don't know. . ."

"Totally screwed?" I suggested.

"Exactly."

At this point I happened to look past Caranthir's shoulder and saw two people coming towards us; Menelya, and Calenir – who, if you remember, is Bob's brother. He doesn't hang out with the others much, probably because he has his own life beyond parties and concerts. He surfs instead. And I guess the rest of his time he dedicates to Galadriel. Whenever she goes missing we assume she's off with Calenir, because they're going out right now.

Menelya's eyes widened when she saw Caranthir standing there, and they both quickly looked at the ground. Awkward much. Fortunately, Galadriel came bouncing along to greet her friend – and boyfriend – remaining oblivious to the awkwardness.

"Menelya! Gosh, I haven't seen you for _ages_!"

"Ages? Lords, Galadriel, try a day!"

"Oh, okay – well, I haven't seen you for a while, have I, Calenir?"

"If a while is twelve hours ago—"

"Oh, shut up, guys!" she cried in exasperation. Caranthir snorted, at the same time as Orodreth came along with a nerdy comment.

"Technically," he said, "the phrase 'shut up' is grammatically incorrect. Though I myself am not infrequently inclined to use it."

"Shut up, Orodreth," replied Caranthir absent-mindedly, regardless of the grammatically incorrect usage of the phrase. Menelya was majorly checking out his cousin – Orodreth actually looked pretty cool right now, what with his professional hair-dye job. I guess Maedhros' saying is true – the nerd appears cool until he opens his mouth. Locking gazes with Menelya for a moment he turned a little pink and looked away. Calenir lazily slung an arm around Galadriel.

"What're we doing today?" he asked.

"Menelya and I planned to go shopping today!" Galadriel exclaimed excitedly. Calenir's face immediately fell with a look of such despair that I couldn't help laughing out loud and saying,

"Have fun with that!"

"Oh, we will," Galadriel beamed. "And we decided that you're coming with us!"

Now it was my turn to be shocked, at which Calenir snickered. Having spent most of my life hanging out with boys, shopping is not something that appeals to me much, though other girls love it. I glanced down at my tattered black dress, and Galadriel was also eying it with something that might have been distaste.

"We thought you might like to get yourself some new clothes," offered Menelya tactfully.

"What's wrong with this?" I asked, holding up one of the folds in my dress. Sure, it was a bit old, but it served its purpose. It wasn't falling apart like some of the ancient hand-me-downs that Amrod and Amras sometimes wear. Galadriel wrinkled her nose in a way that suggested she thought quite the opposite. I decided to protest.

"Please, guys – I don't shop!"

"Neither do I!" put in Calenir. Galadriel waved her hand dismissively.

"Nonsense, Avasarie! All girls shop. You're coming with us."

"But—"

"Honestly, you're as bad as Caranthir! You have to get out at least _some_ of the time!" So saying she grabbed my wrist and I literally had to be yanked into the city square. So did Calenir.

If I said that I hated every moment of wandering around the shops and checking out all the cool stuff – including the really expensive things – I would be lying. Maybe I had been missing something by not going shopping like everyone else. We walked into this really cool-looking place, with Calenir groaning in tow.

The woman in the shop beamed at Galadriel and Menelya, not quite so much at awkward me, and had a hard time containing her laughter when Calenir glumly trooped in after us.

"Oh, Galadriel! How _are_ you?" she exclaimed cheerfully. Obviously she knew Galadriel, which said a lot about how often she went shopping. "What can I do for you all today?" Galadriel smiled back.

"Hey, Linesse – we're looking for a dress for Avasarie here. Do you have anything that would suit her?"

"As a matter of fact, I do – I made something for my daughter a while ago and you look around the same height. Just wait right here!"

"Her daughter must be pretty tall," commented Menelya, looking at me up and down. I sighed. You'd think being tall was a good thing, but not when shopping for clothes. Linesse emerged from the back of the shop a few moments later carrying a blue off-the-shoulder dress with a silver belt. Galadriel squealed in delight.

"It's _perfect_!"

"Oh Lords – Galadriel, seriously – I don't wear blue! I've _never_ worn a blue dress before!" Well, it was more than just blue – it was freaking aquamarine.

"All the more reason to try it out, my dear," she grinned evilly. Calenir, who had managed to survive so far, shot me a sympathetic glance as I was herded off into a room to try it on. Nervously, I popped out again draped in what felt like a curtain.

Judging by the squeals and gasps of the other two, and Calenir's approving nod, I guess I might have looked okay in that dress. Alright, I looked really good in that dress, despite the fact that I don't usually go for aquamarine. Actually, I don't usually go for new dresses full stop – I end up getting my older sister's clothes, which are mostly black. Which, of course, is fine with me.

For some reason, we ended up trooping back to Feanor's house after spending most of the day shopping. The others who had been hanging out on the beach seemed to have had the same idea, judging by the noise that was echoing down the entire street.

"You know what?" said Galadriel suddenly. "I think you'd look really nice with dark red streaks through your hair, Avasarie." I rolled my eyes. "Oh, come on! It'll be fun. Let me do your hair sometime."

"What's going on in there?" asked Calenir, puzzled, as the noise increased. We didn't have to wait long to find out. Opening the door, we were greeted with. . .well, it was something.

"Amrod! Will you stop that?" Maedhros yelled out to his younger brother. The house was in utter chaos. Feanor's kids and all their cousins had invaded for a random afternoon party – everyone was still on a high and at least one of the twins was going psycho, which would explain why Maedhros was chasing after them. Maglor was playing one of his dance tunes, and Aredhel was wildly whirling around the room with Celegorm. And Aegnor was break-dancing.

Then, of course, Feanor and Nerdanel came home.

Feanor looked absolutely horrified. I reckon he should have been used to it – these are Finweans, after all. They really don't act like the Royal Family's supposed to, and especially not when they're at home.

"What is going on here?" he roared as Amrod – or Amras – rushed past pursued by Maedhros.

"Hey, dad!" called Caranthir cheerfully over the noise. He made his way over to me and asked how my day had been.

"Yeah, it was good, but now Galadriel reckons —"

I was interrupted as Celegorm picked up Aredhel and they both went crashing into the bookshelf, several books raining down on them as they did so. Along with the crystal vase Feanor had made Nerdanel for their anniversary a few years ago.

"It's alright, Feanor – it didn't break," said Nerdanel soothingly when a shocked look crossed his face. "It's good quality." He managed a smile at that.

"Everything I make is good quality, you know that."

"Oh, shush! You think far too highly of yourself. You're always better than everybody else."

"That's where you're wrong," he replied. "The one person in the entire world that could possibly be better than me is you, my dear." And with that he kissed her in front of everyone, despite the ensuing protests of 'Ew!' and 'Get a room!'

I guess summer makes even Feanor young again.

OoO

Sorry it took so long to update! Blame it on school. ;)


	11. Close Encounters of the Awkward Kind

**Close Encounters Of The Awkward Kind**

Caranthir

Alqualonde, being right on the coast, gets hit with the weirdest weather – it'll be really sunny and hot in the morning and by the afternoon it'll be pouring with rain. For days now it had been raining almost non-stop so we couldn't go anywhere, least of all to the beach. So everyone was just gloomily moping around the house and with nothing better to do Celegorm, Avasarie and I were lounging around and chatting.

"Do you think I'd look alright with red streaks in my hair?" asked Avasarie, off-topic of course. Not that we really had a topic going or anything.

"Um, I'm a guy – why're you asking me for? Maybe that's a question you should ask Galadriel or Bob or someone. Why?"

"'Cause a few days ago Galadriel threatened to dye my hair." Celegorm grinned at her woeful expression.

"Does she even know how to?"

"Dude, I wouldn't have a clue – I wouldn't put it past her though. This is Galadriel we're talking about."

"True. Hey, how come you aren't wearing black today? Your dress is like. . .blue." Now, I don't usually take note of what people wear, but I can't possibly be oblivious to someone who's sitting a few steps away wearing bright blue – sorry, aquamarine – especially when said individual almost invariably wears black. Before Avasarie could say anything I replied sarcastically,

"Observant, aren't we?"

He snorted derisively. "You wouldn't notice if Dad dyed his hair green and pierced his nose if you were standing three feet away from him, butt-head."

"And _you_ couldn't pour water out of a boot with the instructions written on the heel, dumb-arse," I shot back.

Celegorm whipped around and flung one of Dad's boot s at me with the words, "Shut up, man." Ducking quickly I picked up an old slipper, one that Huan had recently used for the improvement of his teeth, and chucked it at him. Avasarie rolled her eyes.

"What was that for?" I asked, ignoring Celegorm's grunt when the slipper clipped him in the ear. She sighed melodramatically.

"Sometimes you guys are pathetic."

"Pathetic? Whaddya mean?" demanded Celegorm.

"Seriously – you're arguing over who's the dumbest and then you chuck shoes at each other. _Real_ smart, that is." Celegorm roared with laughter and I allowed myself a snigger before my dumb brother recovered and in an attempt to be persuasive and charming he turned to Avasarie and asked,

"But you still love us even if we're pathetic, right?" He winked.

"Of course I love you guys!" she exclaimed cheerfully, though she threw gave me a sidelong glance and I, for some reason, felt slightly embarrassed. There was a knock on the door and Celegorm remarked that it was probably Galadriel. So Avasarie stood up and opened it to reveal the unusually young-looking postman standing there. Avasarie's jaw dropped open.

"Calenir? _You_ do the rounds?" Grinning he tipped his postie's hat.

"Sure do, ma'am." Then he looked around as if he were paranoid of being overheard and added, "Don't tell Galadriel — I kinda blew her off so I could work today." Celegorm looked absolutely horrified. He'd know – he's the expert on girls, because he is one. Avasarie whacked me in the ribs. Oops, I must've said that out loud. Celegorm tutted.

"Oh man — that's something that you just don't do. Whatcha do that for?" Calenir looked a little guilty.

"Ah well, I couldn't help it. I'm staying with my uncle and he usually does it but he fell off the roof the other day and broke his leg."

"Well, that was smart," Avasarie commented flatly.

"Yeah, I know. So while he's healing I have to do the rounds—but I ain't complaining too much because it means I get to chat up hot girls such as yourself." He winked. She just laughed and reprimanded him.

"Did you come here just to flirt or what?" Calenir held up his hand as if he'd remembered something.

"Come to think of it, yeah, I do have a reason for being here — you've got a letter." He handed her an envelope.

"Who's it from?" queried Celegorm. Avasarie turned it over, puzzled. When she read who it was from her face lit up and she shouted gleefully.

"It's from my family!" she cried, jumping and doing a little happy dance on the spot. Calenir smiled.

"Well, I guess I better leave it to you then — catcha later."

"Bye," called Avasarie, closing the door behind him. Excitedly she bounced over to the couch.

"You're not usually that excited about your family," I said slowly, sitting next to her.

"Yeah, but I haven't seen them for the last I-don't-know-how-long!"

"Hurry up, then," ordered Celegorm.

"I'm hurrying. Okay, here it is." She cleared her throat to read out what her family had to say for themselves.

_Dear Avasarie,_

_We hope you're having a wonderful time in Alqualonde. Have you been down to the beach a lot? The weather here has been very hot and uncomfortable for at least a week – all of us wish we were at the beach instead. We all miss you._

_Hugs and kisses,_

_Mum and Dad._

Avasarie ran her eyes down the page. "Hey, there's more here. Looks like my brother and sister have written something too."

_Hey, Avasarie,_

_Are the people in Alqualonde as weird as you are? (Peace out, Lirendil)_

_Hey there._

_Have a nice time in Alqualonde—you won't be bored hanging out with the sons of Feanor. Say hey to Caranthir and give Celegorm a hug for me. (Love always, Vanimelda)_

Celegorm turned bright red. Vanimelda was Avasarie's emo older sister and had had a major crush on my brother since she was about twelve. Another knock on the door cut through the laughter and once again Avasarie went to answer it.

"Hey!" sang out Galadriel, stepping in noisily and nearly knocking Avasarie over with a hug. Behind Galadriel was Menelya. _Oh, crap_, I thought. She really wasn't who I wanted to see at that moment.

"Yeah, I'm happy to see you too," Avasarie said, puzzled. Galadriel finally let her go and turned to all of us.

"I just saw a really young-looking postie," she said. "It was only from a distance but darn, he was hot!" We all exchanged glances and made a concerted effort not to start laughing. Galadriel just gave us strange looks and chattering she grabbed my best friend and wandered off to the kitchen. Celegorm glanced at Menelya, then at me, and decided to head out as well, leaving the both of us standing there. I could've killed him, the idiot. Menelya didn't look particularly comfortable either. Not wanting things to get any more awkward than they already were, I said,

"So — what's Galadriel up to?"

She looked a little startled. "She thought she'd surprise Avasarie and decided to dye her hair today. Random, I know." She looked at the floor and a few moments of silence stretched between us. I _hate_ awkwardness! Finally she cleared her throat.

"I need to talk to you, Caranthir."

"Um—" I was surprised. "Go ahead, I guess."

Menelya took a deep breath. "Uh, okay. Look, I'm really sorry about what happened. I didn't want to hurt you at all and I feel like crap."

I didn't know what to say, so I made no comment. Menelya sighed.

"Say something, will you? It's getting really awkward. I hate it when things get awkward." I gave a weak smile — there, we had something in common after all.

"It's okay. Don't feel bad — it was more my fault than yours. I'll admit that I'm an arsehole. Am I forgiven?" She hesitated for a moment then replied,

"Yeah, I s'pose so."

I gave a mental sigh of relief. Whew — so that was that over with. Menelya brightened noticeably.

"So," she began cheerfully, as if nothing had happened. "Do you get a lot of publicity in Tirion? You know, being the royal family and all that?"

"Nah, not really — well, my brothers do. An awesome party is usually defined by whether or not Maedhros turns up."

"Yeah, my older brother's like that."

"Try three older brothers like that," I muttered.

"You have three brothers?"

"Six, actually." Her eyes widened.

"Holy Calacirya."

"Yep – and nearly every one of them a royal pain in the arse."

"What about you?"

"Am I a royal pain in the arse?"

"No – I mean, are you popular as well?"

"Helcaraxe, no! Why would I be?"

"Well, with your looks and personality –"

"Which are weird and weirder."

"You aren't weird. A bit of anti-conformity never hurt anyone. You need to stop thinking of yourself so badly. And your looks are good, believe it or not. I still think you're hot." She gave me one of her cute smiles and I tried not to turn red.

"Thanks, I guess."

A shriek from upstairs suddenly rent the air, followed by a horrified gasp.

"Oh, dear Valar!" That was clearly Galadriel.

"Sweet freaking waters of awakening!" swore a voice that sounded like Avasarie's, and there was a sound of footsteps running around on the ceiling. I glanced up.

"Wonder what's happened?"

Menelya and I went over to the foot of the stairs, where Celegorm was already standing in shock.

Avasarie was standing at the top of the staircase, looking annoyed as Udun, her hair the same bright aqua shade as her dress. Galadriel ran up beside her, furious.

"Alright, who messed with the formula?!"

At that one head with bright red hair popped up on the side of the staircase, followed by another one, both wearing expressions of mingled guilt and mischief. Unfortunately Galadriel happened to see them, and leaning out over the balustrade she bellowed down at them,

"I'm gonna kill you both!"

"AAAGGGH!"

Amrod and Amras wasted no time in running for their lives, pursued by my irate cousin. Avasarie came down and turned to me helplessly.

"That's the last time I'm getting my hair dyed," she said dejectedly, running a hand through her now aqua-coloured hair.

"Well, it's . . . unique," offered Celegorm. She glared at him.

"Not helpful, Celegorm."

"Sorry."

Suddenly Menelya bumped into Avasarie and threw her off-balance. Quickly I put my arms out to catch her, as she was standing in front of me. With my arms around her for a moment I realised that Celegorm was grinning at us and Menelya was looking very conspiratorial. To stop any more awkwardness (I'd had enough of that by now) I let Avasarie go, with a strange feeling of reluctance. I would have liked nothing more than to have held her there for just a little longer—

Wait — what?! No! I backed off a little, shaking my head to rid myself of what I'd just thought.

"Sorry." She stared at me, her face devoid of any expression. "I'm sorry. 'Scuse me," I muttered, walking away as quickly as I could to the kitchen. I needed to think, so demolishing a few apples might help the thought process.

Maybe it was the Alqualonde weather that made me think weird things about my best friend – I had certainly never thought about her that way before. At all. Ever.

So why did I just feel like I had to hug her in front of my friend and my idiot brother? I vehemently flattened an innocent fly that was sitting on the wall. I couldn't like Avasarie! I would not. And why the grinding ice did Menelya push her like that? It was almost as if she did it on purpose. Groaning, I buried my head in my hands. Life was getting far too complicated without adding girl problems and conspiracy theories to it – and not to mention what Melkor had unexpectedly told Avasarie the other day about some other race of people. Who knew what kind of political trouble could come out of that?

And now I was getting anxious and emo.

Life sucked again for about the one hundredth time.


	12. Love stinks

Thank you, Wilwarin! :)

"**Love stinks."**

~ Adam Sandler

Caranthir

With all these cheerful thoughts running through my mind I tossed my apple core out of the window, ignored the yells that came up from down below and turned around only to see Celegorm standing there and staring at me.

"What?" I demanded. He shot me an annoyed look in reply.

"Seriously, Caranthir," he said, in a tone that told me he thought I was an absolute tool. I swallowed and tried to maintain my look of defiance. Usually I'm pretty good at the Dark Look of Doom™ but Celegorm out-stared me on this particular occasion. What was he getting all pissed about, anyway? _I_ was the victim here! How was it my fault that everyone in the Blessed Realm was trying to get me to go out with my best friend?

"Well, what the hell was I supposed to do?" I snapped.

"You're an idiot, and a blind one at that. Just embarrass the girl, why don't you?" was all he said before he marched off on me. Fuming, I leaned against the kitchen bench. This whole thing was driving me insane! I'd be completely crazy before I even finished school.

I sighed. He was right. I must have embarrassed the poor girl. Stupid, blundering me. I could've handled the situation better. Now things would be majorly awkward, especially as everyone would think I liked her. Including Avasarie.

This really wasn't my day.

OoO

Avasarie

So that was it. He regretted hugging me. He didn't like me. I stood there, speechless, while Celegorm went after his brother. Somewhere in the halls the twins were trying to escape the murderous clutches of Galadriel, with shouts such as:

"But it was—"

"—his idea!"

"No it wasn't!"

"Yes, it was!"

I leaned against the post at the bottom of the balustrade. It was all I could do to stop myself from crying.

"It's okay," Menelya said, trying to be sympathetic. "Don't worry about it."

"But I _am_ worrying!" I groaned. I liked my best friend, I was keeping a major political secret and my hair was blue, for crying out loud. Thanks to all these facts there were several people I might potentially piss off – Caranthir, the Valar, and my mum. I had _plenty_ of reasons to be worrying.

"He does like you – he just doesn't know it yet," interrupted Galadriel, rejoining us with a satisfied look that showed she had successfully dealt with the hair-dye culprits. I rolled my eyes.

"Does _everyone_ know about all this?"

"Not everyone – Caranthir doesn't, for one," offered Galadriel. "He'll find out soon enough."

"Yeah. You guys just need a little – push," added Menelya.

"Um, guys? I'd prefer it if you _didn't_ push either of us. Literally or figuratively."

"It isn't the biggest deal to like your best friend," said Galadriel kindly. "I mean, my older brother has had a major crush on Amarie for years."

"Yeah, but — it's so embarrassing," I sighed.

"It's more embarrassing when you kinda like a nerdy sort of guy and he happens to be related to—" Menelya stopped halfway through her sentence and bit her lip. I suddenly understood and couldn't help a grin, despite the fact that I was thoroughly pissed off. Menelya blushed furiously.

"What's going on?" demanded Galadriel.

"Don't you say anything!" gasped Menelya, pointing an accusing finger at me. I raised my hands in defence.

"Fine, I won't – but she'll find out sooner or later."

Galadriel still looked confused.

"Why doesn't anyone around here tell me what's going on?"

"Because," interjected Celegorm, re-entering the room, "if anyone around here tells _you_ what's going on half the Blessed Realm will know about it, the Valar included." He turned to me. "He should be alright soon – I just insulted him."

"And that's going to help?" I asked incredulously. He shrugged.

"Usually does."

I was sure at least one of the Valar was getting their kicks out of cursing my life or something. I'd never had a crush on anyone in all my life and the first person I had ever liked was the moody fourth son of a guy who knew my dad, and that I'd been hanging out with said moody fourth son for years without feeling anything for him at all. This was all very depressing.

However Galadriel, who never remained too depressed for long, had taken my wrist and was dragging me to the door again, with Menelya following.

"Come over to my house – I'll see if I can get the dye out, 'kay?"

"But—"

As usual, Galadriel ignored any attempts of a protest I made and the three of us headed off down the road. It had finally stopped raining and the sky was beginning to show through the clouds, which was good because I didn't fancy having to walk around the city in the rain. And additionally, the light was nicely highlighting the figure of a guy who was standing around in the middle of the street and talking to Turgon and Aredhel.

I'll be blunt. He was hot. Judging by the looks that several other girls, including Menelya and Galadriel, were giving him, I'd say they shared my opinion. His hair was – alright, this is clichéd, but it was the colour of gold. The shininess rivalled even Galadriel's. I wondered what sort of soap he used to wash it with.

Aredhel saw us and waved.

"Oh, good Lords," breathed Galadriel reverently as if she were in a ceremony to honour the Valar. "Will you check that out."

"May I remind you," said Menelya, "that you already have a boyfriend?"

"So? I can't help it if the guy's hot."

"He's way older than you. He's like, Maglor's age."

"Shut up."

"Hey guys," exclaimed Aredhel cheerfully. "This is Glorfindel. Glorfindel, this is Galadriel, Menelya and Avasarie."

Yep. I'm always the last one.

The guy introduced as Glorfindel flashed us all a smile with perfect teeth. "I already know Menelya," he said. "But I don't know either of you. Nice to meet you."Galadriel looked like she was about to melt all over the footpath. She turned to Menelya.

"Hey, how come you knew someone before I did?"

"He's one of my cousins, that's why."

"A distant cousin, I might add," interjected Glorfindel, for no particular reason. "I'm here 'cause I wanted to see Maglor do that concert thingo this year."

Concert thingo? Oh, the Alqualonde Music Festival. Of course – I'd totally forgotten about that. That was tonight. How did he know Maglor? Crap, he knew more people than Galadriel did.

As much as I wanted to hang around and talk to Turgon and Aredhel and their super-good-looking mate, I didn't really want Galadriel standing around and flirting when we had more important stuff to do. Such as remove the blue dye from my hair.

"Um, Galadriel?" I tugged at her sleeve. "We were going to your house? Remember?"

"What? Oh, yeah." She managed to tear her eyes away from Glorfindel, who was watching her with an amused expression. "Bye, Glorfindel."

"See ya round sometime," he answered. He grinned at me. "Nice hair, by the way."

I tried my best not to let my face heat up and become a ripe tomato with facial features, managed to choke out a squeaky 'see ya,' and quickly walked off. We finally got to Galadriel's house, where she started trying to search for something that would get my hair back to normal. Sitting there in the loungeroom was Amarie, Finrod's friend. She looked kinda upset.

"Hey, Amarie," I said, rather un-gracefully plonking myself down next to her.

"Huh? Oh, hi – um, Caranthir's friend."

"Avasarie. You look, um—"

"Pissed off? Buggered? Yeah, that's me."

"Why?"

Amarie heaved a sigh. "It's Finrod. He hasn't been talking much to me lately, and things have been getting really awkward."

Suddenly it hit me. "You really like the dude, don't you?"

She nodded miserably. "And I don't think he likes me back."

"Oh, he does – don't you worry 'bout that," exclaimed Galadriel, coming along with her weird concoction. "What is it with guys not admitting their feelings these days? Guys are stupid creatures. Come on – let's get this stuff out of your hair."

I wrinkled my nose. "That stuff reeks. What did you end up doing to the twins, anyway?"

A sudden evil look that I didn't usually see on Galadriel crossed her face. "You don't wanna know."

I started heading back when it was late in the afternoon. Unfortunately the hair stuff didn't do a thing, except make the colour slightly less bright. My hair was still a greenish-blue colour – I'd seen a few people in Alqualonde with streaks in their hair, but not their whole head, and in Tirion they frowned on that sort of stuff.

I got home and found Curufin with the biggest scowl on his face, and Maglor looking unusually nervous.

"What's up?" I asked Maglor.

"The music festival's on tonight," he answered. "I don't usually get nervous, Now I'm nearly shitting myself."

"Please don't – we'll have to clean it up," grumbled Curufin, before leaving the room. I raised an eyebrow.

"What's up with him? He's being more snarky than usual."

"He had a fight with what's-her-name and they broke up. Bob, wasn't it?"

Holy stars. No wonder he was cheesed off – he really liked her.

"What did they fight over?"

"The unequal distribution of wealth between social classes, if you really have to know," interrupted Curufin himself, his dark head appearing round the corner.

Gods, what a thing to argue about. I wandered off to the kitchen and found Caranthir still hanging out there, Celegorm's dog Huan looking up expectantly at him.

"Dude, you know what happened last time anyone fed you chocolate – you got sick and Celegorm was pissed for weeks. He still doesn't know it was me, by the way." I snorted and he looked up. "Oh, hey, Avasarie."

"Hey." We were silent for a few moments, then I decided to say something.

"What happened today – that was just Menelya mucking around."

He looked a little surprised. "Um, yeah. 'Course." Huan stretched and lay down at Caranthir's feet, having finally realised that he wouldn't be getting anything. Caranthir says he's probably smarter than his owner most of the time. "Don't you get sick of people trying to set us up all the time?"

"Yeah, I guess." I like this guy way too much, dammit, I thought. I must've looked upset, because then Caranthir came over, stepping over Huan.

"It gets on my nerves too sometimes." I froze. _How do you know?_ I thought, panicking for a sec. How did he find out that I liked him? "People get so annoying," he sighed. Then he hugged me, slightly awkwardly. I couldn't help grinning behind his back. Well, maybe he didn't like me, but at least we were still good friends. He let me go and held out a plate of his mum's latest cooking creation.

"Cookie?"

I grinned. "Whenever not?"


	13. Finwean Family Drama

A nice long chapter to make up for all the long waits! :)

**Finwean Family Drama**

Caranthir

"So you couldn't get the dye out?" I asked Avasarie. She shook her head.

"Meh, I'll get used to it eventually. Do you happen to know a dude called Glorfindel?"

"I've met him, like, once. He's friends with Turgon. Why?"

"I randomly bumped into him this afternoon."

"And…you thought he was hot." I should've known.

"Shut up. It's because he is. You coming to Maglor's thing?"

That was tonight. I hadn't planned on going – I'm not really into going out, as we all know by now, but then again Maglor was my brother and he needed his brothers to ridicule him during times of crisis. Plus, his music was kinda good, even if I wasn't about to admit that to him. Especially after he'd made up a song based on my getting so drunk I could barely remember what I'd done. That probably wasn't the best way to get famous, but still.

So yeah, I went.

I did figure that the crowd at the place where they were holding the annual Alqualonde Music Festival would be big, but I was wrong. It was huge. And Maglor was looking more pallid and nervous than I'd ever seen him.

Allow me to explain why. The Alqualonde Music Festival is this huge music event where only the best musicians get to perform – like Maglor for example, which explains why he was looking like he was about to walk to his doom off the edge of Taniquetil.

"Stress less," I told him before he went backstage. "Even if you sing as badly as Dad and Grandpa's cat put together at least half of your audience will still love you." I use Grandpa's mangy cat as a comparison a fair bit, don't I?

"Why only half?"

"Because presumably half the people there will be that incessant mob of screeching female fans who are always following you." Girls love Maglor – it's why he's almost never single.

Still, you'd never guess that he was nervous when he ran out onto the stage with a grin on his face, waving one hand and carrying his lyre in the other.

"Yo, what's up, people!" he yelled. A deafening shout rose from the audience in response. "This song is dedicated to my brother Caranthir who inspired it all in the first place – Caranthir, if you're out there, I just wanna let you know that you're a loser."

Avasarie grinned and I rolled my eyes. Yeah, thanks, bro. And so with that he launched into that ridiculous song of his, 'Saturday Morning', which was still on top of the charts. Then I suddenly got this really weird impulse to run up to the front and mosh. I decided it was about time I did something fun and impulsive, and this time round I wasn't under the influence of alcohol, which was even better. I turned to Avasarie and yelled over the top of Maglor and about a thousand other people, "Wanna mosh?"

"What, now?"

"Course. Come on!" I grabbed her hand and we pushed our way to the very front.

The mosh pit, as they call it, is always crowded and sweaty, so once you get there you can't move anywhere else, because everyone's so tightly packed together. But dang, it was fun. And Maglor even pulled me onto the stage. I didn't know what to do at first, so I nervously raised a hand at the crowds in a half-wave. This was greeted with a huge yell so I did it again and ran around the edges of the stage high-fiving everyone with my brother. Turns out I have fans (girl ones) too. Next time Celegorm decided to rip on me about my lack of good looks/lack of importance, I was so going to bring that up. Cop that, Celegorm.

The song ended and everyone applauded loudly. I glanced at Maglor and his face was flushed with excitement. I was about to get down when he yanked me back by my shirt and yelled out, "Say hey to my brother Caranthir!" I got almost as many cheers and applause as Maglor, which made me grin like an idiot before I clambered off the stage. I looked around for Avasarie. It took me a moment to realise what I'd just done.

"What the flipping Udun just happened?" I asked Avasarie slowly. I never liked attracting too much attention to myself, but just then I'd gone running around a stage in front of huge crowds of people in the world's biggest music festival. "Please don't tell me I sang!"

"You sang."

"Ah, shit."

"What?"

"I always do the stupidest things when I'm on a high."

"In case you haven't noticed, everyone does stupid things when they're on a high. You don't sing as bad as your dad, so it's all good."

"I don't sing _that_ badly, do I?" rumbled a familiar voice behind me. I turned around in surprise.

"Dad?" I swear my jaw literally dropped open. The last place I'd expect to see Dad was at a music festival. "What're you doing here?"

"Oh." He sounded hesitant. "I wanted to see Maglor perform. He is – quite talented."

"Never thought I'd hear that from you," said a voice behind Dad, and Maglor came into view with his lyre. Dad nearly jumped out of his skin but quickly resumed his usual reserved demeanour. Maglor eyed him incredulously.

"You're – not going to criticise me? You're not going to tell me that I'm a lazy drop-out who makes a lot of noise and should do something useful like work in the forge?"

"No." He straightened himself. "You've done well, son."

And for once, instead of making a smart-arse comment, Maglor said quietly, "Thanks, Dad."

OoO

"Everyone seems to be either moping around or being quiet today," I observed. Meaning that we couldn't hear the twins from the other side of the Blessed Realm.

"Except for Maglor," replied Avasarie, who was looking a little gloomy herself. "Curufin broke up with Bob, Menelya's into Orodreth, and—"

"Huh? Wait – what? Menelya and _Orodreth_?"

Celegorm looked up from where he'd been sitting in a corner reading. Yes, he does in fact have just enough mental capacity to master the reading of words. "You're not jealous, are you?"

"No – it's more the fact that she's pretty and popular and he's just about the biggest nerd ever."

"True." She tilted her head to one side as if listening for something. "What's happened to the twins? It's, like, quiet. Since when is this house quiet?"

I grinned. "Since Galadriel sloshed that blue hair dye over both of them. They're hiding in shame because they've got uneven blotches of bright blue in their hair." Avasarie winced.

"Blue and red, that can't look good," she mused. Just then Curufin tromped miserably into the room.

"Hey, Curufin," said Celegorm, sounding purposely happy.

"Piss off," came the jovial reply.

"Cheery today, aren't we?" I asked.

"Speak for yourself. You're always moping around going, 'my life sucks' and being emo and looking down your nose at other people for their mindless conformist mentality."

"Hey – I'm a son of Feanor. I have a right to look down my nose at people. Being arrogant is genetic."

"Then how come you always tell _me_ off for being arrogant?" demanded Celegorm.

"Because I'm allowed to be and you're not."

"Yes, I am. You suck."

"_You_ suck."

"You're an emo."

"You're a jerk."

"Fool."

"Twit."

"Dumb-arse."

"Tool."

Curufin rolled his eyes. "Whatever. I'm going."

"Don't come back," I answered cheerfully, to which he replied by flipping me off before slamming the door, Curufin being the affable, good-natured person he is. Definitely takes after Dad, that one. "What are you writing, Avasarie?"

"I'm replying to that letter my nutso family sent me – Mum's probably freaking because she hasn't gotten a letter back yet."

I peered over her shoulder to read it.

_Hey guys,_

_Alqualonde is the awesomest place ever. And Lirendil, don't try to tell me that 'awesomest' is not the correct superlative form of the adjective, because I don't care. We've been to the beach heaps of times because it's been pretty hot over here too. I'll be home soon, so don't miss me too much._

_Peace out, Avasarie._

_PS. Lirendil: Are people in Alqualonde as weird as I am? No, but they're a lot cooler than you are._

_PPS. Hey, Vanimelda! Alqualonde is freaking awesome, and no, I definitely haven't been bored. There's too much to do to be bored. By the way, you should probably stop freaking Celegorm out._

"Tell them 'hey' from me," I said. So she quickly wrote at the bottom,

_Caranthir says hey._

She sealed the envelope and stood up. "I'm going off to mail this. Wanna come?"

"Sure."

"Why is everyone leaving?" asked Celegorm. I sighed as if the answer were perfectly obvious.

"Because you suck."

"Please, don't start that again!" laughed Avasarie. "You coming or what?"

We headed off to mail the letter, and we ended up talking about random things that had no importance whatsoever.

"What's happening with Finrod and Amarie, anyway?" I asked.

"I talked to Amarie yesterday. She's depressed because she reckons Finrod doesn't like her."

I rolled my eyes. Cousins. "Finrod," I said, "is an idiot without a functioning brain who needs a really good — and speak of the demon," I added as we rounded the corner and saw the aforementioned individuals standing around near this random apple stand at the market.

For the information of some of you who may not know, Finrod and Amarie's thing is next to Dad and Uncle Fingolfin's ongoing political spat, in terms of family drama. It's cheap entertainment. Amarie waved at us.

"Hey guys!"

"Yo. 'Sup, Finrod." Finrod's face showed just a hint of annoyance, but he hid it well. He was probably getting all shirty because we'd disturbed their highly romantic discussion over the price of apples. "So, what're you doing?"

"Just hanging around," replied Amarie, seeing as her would-be boyfriend refused to say anything.

"Hanging around the apples?" asked Avasarie, raising an eyebrow. "That must be fun."

"It is. Actually, we were going to go look for you guys. As in, the rest of the family."

Finrod looked highly confused. "We were?"

"That's flattering," I interrupted, putting in my two cents. "You must've been pretty bored to want to look for us."

"Seriously! No privacy!" We all went silent and stared at a seriously annoyed pissed-off-looking Finrod, who had finally lost his cool. Now Amarie looked confused. She turned to Finrod in surprise.

"What are you—"

"I like you, Amarie, that's what." He turned a bit red in the face but apart from that he looked determined.

"Why didn't you tell me?" she cried. I couldn't tell whether she was annoyed or happy about it.

"Because no one ever leaves us alone for long enough for me to tell you!"

"You're so stupid," she said, and just kissed him in front of us.

"I think maybe now would be a good time to leave," remarked Avasarie. I agreed.

"You're right. Let's go do something stupid."

The best time to be by the sea is probably at the Mingling of the Lights. The sky is a little more on the dark side of things but the light shines off the sea and you can just see Tol Eressea if you're sitting in the right place. It's really quite pretty.

Needless to say, Avasarie and I took it upon ourselves to wreck the picturesque seaside scene by running up the beach like nutcases. She'd tripped me over so that I'd done a faceplant, and now I was going to exact my revenge. It took a moment to get all the sand off my face before I could see enough to run after her. I caught her eventually and we both fell into the sand, laughing our arses off.

"Now we're even," I said, sitting up.

"Not quite." And with that she smushed some sort of gooey substance into my hair. It might've been that squishy type of seaweed, or a dead jellyfish, I wasn't sure.

"Dude, gross!" I laughed, trying to shake the mush out of my hair. She just grinned, then leaned back a little.

"This summer's been really – I dunno, different."

"Yeah." There was hardly anyone about, only a few random fishermen standing around on the piers. "A lot's happened."

"Like you getting completely trashed at Vorondil's?"

"Shut up,_"_ I replied, removing a chunky bit of dead jellyfish remains from my hair. "I had such a bad hangover after that, _and_ I had to go to that fancy rich dude's thing in the same day." And the whole Menelya incident too, but I didn't need to bring that up.

"Well, it was your fault. And I had to help drag you off to your uncle's because you could only just walk," she replied, pretending to be annoyed with me.

"That's true. Fair lady, how shall I make amends?" I asked, clasping my hands in mock entreaty like I saw one of Manwe's poets do at a drama festival in Tirion. She sighed dramatically.

"Well, I suppose I can forgive you if – you don't get that drunk again. Deal?"

"Deal." We looked out over the sea, and there was a glimmer of green sitting before us in the distance. And beyond lay the lands of Middle Earth. That was a funny word, Middle Earth. Grandpa Finwe had interesting stories to tell about it, when he lived there yonks ago. "I wonder what it's like to live there?" I murmured.

"Where? Tol Eressea?"

"No – Endor. What do you think it'd be like?"

"I think it'd be weird, living in a place where there's only starlight."

"Me too. Hey, you know what we should do? I've just had this random idea. We should steal one of those Telerin ships and sail off to Middle Earth one day and hang around there for a while. Whaddya reckon?"

She laughed. "The Teleri are so attached to their ships you'd have to kill them to take one from under their noses."

"Oh well. We'll go to Middle-Earth, but without killing anyone in the process."

"Is this another deal?"

"Yeah. You in?"

"Definitely."

We just sat there for a while, not saying anything. A gust of wind blew a long strand of Avasarie's hair across my face. I quickly tucked it behind her ear and she blushed a little. It only just occurred to me then that the motive behind me not wanting Celegorm to go out with her was pure jealousy. Valar, I could be thick sometimes. I liked Avasarie and I didn't actually care what anyone else thought about it, and it had taken me a good part of my life to figure it out too.

So on the impulse of the moment I leaned over and kissed her. I realised what I'd done after about half a sec and let go.

"Sorry," I said quietly, not knowing what else to do. When I looked up she just gave me a strange smile and said,

"Don't be." And she kissed me back.


	14. An Ending Of Some Sort

**An Ending of Some Sort**

Caranthir

"Maedhros?"

Our holiday was nearly over and we were leaving in a few days, so for old time's sake we were all gathered on the beach to muck around and watch Maedhros, Fingon and Aredhel play an intense game of 'Bullshit'. They'd all put whatever money they had in their pockets at the time aside for whoever won the game. Maglor was sitting there next to the considerable pile of coins with his lyre amusing us by playing ominous little runs whenever he suspected someone of cheating.

"Maedhros?" asked Amrod again. He and Amras still looked weird with blotches of bright blue standing out against their normally red hair.

"What?"

"Is it true that they use cat's guts in pies?"

"Don't be stupid. Who told you that one?"

"Curufin did!"

"Why'd you tell him that, Curufin?"

Curufin rolled his eyes. "Because he asked."

"That's just Curufin's crap," I said, turning to face the twins. "They don't use cat's guts. They use the _whole_ cat."

Amrod looked like he was about to retch. I got a laugh from everyone else.

"Two kings," said Fingon, solemnly putting two cards onto the pile. I edged toward Avasarie a little.

"So," I said, "we going out now or what?"

She shrugged. "Yeah. I s'pose we are."

So that was that sorted out. Highly romantic, I know, but since when did we follow conventions, anyway? No one had noticed anything so far, except for Galadriel, maybe, judging by the weird looks she gave us every now and again. She gave a mournful sigh.

"I can't believe summer's nearly over."

"I know," grumbled Aredhel. "Back to studying and stuff like that. Blech. One six."

"I am so glad I don't go to school anymore," said Maedhros, with relief in his voice. "I sympathise with you lot, though." He placed down his last two cards. "Two threes."

"Bullshit," interrupted Aredhel straight away. Maedhros' jaw dropped as she picked up the cards he'd put down and waved them at him. "One three and an ace, cheater."

"How could you tell?"

"You're too honest, Maedhros – you couldn't lie to save yourself. One ten – I win!" And amid the laughter she scooped up all the money away from her bewildered (and defeated) opponents. Galadriel suddenly stood up and waved in the distance at a group of people who were walking towards us. Squinting, I realised it was Aeron and Co., a lot of whom I hadn't seen for a while, with the exception of Menelya and Calenir.

"I can't believe you guys are leaving so soon!" exclaimed Menelya, though I suspect her comment was aimed at unsuspecting Orodreth.

"I know," replied Galadriel sadly, reaching up to give Calenir a hug. "We have to keep in touch, okay?"

"Sure we will," said Aeron. He looked around at the rest of us. "I don't know most of you, but it was nice to meet you guys." There was a murmuring chorus of 'likewise' and 'heys' in reply. Vorondil was standing there, as silent and enigmatic as ever. I'm sure even I wasn't that dark and gloomy when I was a kid and my name's Morifinwe.

"Nice knowing you," I said, feeling like I needed to say something, seeing as the last time I'd seen him I had passed out and had to be practically dragged to my uncle's. I wondered if Uncle Finarfin had actually found out that I'd spent the night and a good part of the morning completely out of it in his house.

Vorondil just nodded and said nothing more. I shook my head. I seriously didn't get that guy.

"Hey, Caranthir." I turned around and there was Menelya, the wind blowing her long hair out of its braid.

"Hey," I replied. She hesitated, then bit her lip.

"What is it?" I asked, a little confused.

"I dunno. I just don't want you to still be mad at me over what happened—"

I waved my hand dismissively. "Nah, don't worry about it. It was my fault too, remember? We've already sorted that out. We're friends now."

She smiled. "Yeah. I'll really miss you, Caranthir."

"I'll miss you too," I said, and I meant it. Then when a thought suddenly occurred to me I couldn't help a smile. "You want Orodreth's address? He has a separate letterbox for his mail because of all the letters he gets from those nerdy friends of his."

Menelya gaped, unsure of how to react. "Wha—how did you know about—?" was all she managed to choke out.

"Because," interrupted Celegorm (who came out of nowhere, I might add), "as I've said before, once Galadriel knows something, the whole Blessed Realm knows about it. Which includes her family."

Menelya blushed, both with embarrassment and annoyance. "GALADRIEL!" she yelled, stomping up the beach in a very un-Vanya-like manner to where my social cousin was standing with the rest of her entourage. Well, I'd be embarrassed too, if whoever I liked was a nerd. I glanced at Avasarie, and looking up she gave me a conspiratorial smile. I grinned back. It'd been ages since I'd actually felt happy instead of indifferent and sarcastic.

The last few days passed quickly, with us just packing up stuff or sitting around and eating, as is usual in our household. Nothing really interesting happened, except on the last day, when someone turned up at the door. There were a few sharp raps, and seeing as everyone else was too stuffed from the heat to bother answering the door, I rolled my eyes and answered it myself. It certainly wasn't anyone I had expected. Who on Arda would possibly want to drop by our crazy joint anyway? Apart from Galadriel, or Fingon, of course.

Instead, I just blinked. "Bob?"

The girl with her brown bob sighed. "Yeah, whatever. Is Curufin here?"

"Uh, yeah, he's here." Turning around I bellowed down the hall, "CURUFIN!"

"No need to shout," came the answering grumble.

My idiot brother's dark head appeared from the next room, a scowl on his face. How is it that I get called 'dark' and 'quick to anger' when good ol' daddy's boy is in a worse mood than I am most of the time? Of course, the scowl disappeared when he caught sight of his ex-girlfriend standing at the door, and now he just looked shocked.

"We need to talk," stated Bob flatly. Curufin looked disinclined to acquiesce to her request, or more correctly, her blunt statement of fact. But he went outside with her anyway to talk, and instead of eavesdropping I went back into the kitchen.

"Who was at the door?" asked dad when I plonked myself onto the bench.

"Curufin's girlfriend," interrupted one of the twins without thinking. Dad's eyes widened.

"He has a girlfriend?" He turned to Mum. "And just when was I going to be informed about this?"

"It has been common knowledge for the last few weeks, dear," answered Mum, without any detectable exasperation.

Dad frowned. "I don't really approve of Curufin having a girlfriend just yet. He's only fifteen."

Mum rolled her eyes at him. "And I remember one mysterious fourteen-year-old boy who used to leave roses on my desk at school until I said I would go out with him!" I think that was the first time I'd seen my dad blush. I raised an eyebrow incredulously.

"You? Roses?"

"Ah, old people in love," said Celegorm sarcastically.

"Please, we're trying to eat!" cried the twins almost in unison. Just then, Curufin walked in again, a loopy grin on his face.

"Well, that didn't take long," observed Avasarie.

"Shut up," sighed Curufin, happily. "I just found out that Bob lives in Tirion, and—"

"Now," interrupted dad, trying to do his tough, stern father thing (not that he was ever that stern with Curufin, anyway), "Now, I don't want you spending all your time hanging around a girlfriend and neglecting your studies."

"As in, neglecting the forge. Yeah, yeah, I know." And after this, and Dad's confused face, had elicited some laughter from everyone else, he went off to finish reading. In a family as big as ours you have to have at least one nerd, and Curufin can be almost as bad as Orodreth when he wants.

"Hey there, everyone!" called out a voice that sounded not unlike Galadriel's, and the rest of the family crowded in, despite dad's protestations.

"What do you think you are doing? I—"

"Oh shush, Feanor! Lighten up!" answered Uncle Finarfin cheerfully. I didn't know which one of his brothers dad couldn't stand more – he argued a lot with Uncle Fingolfin, but I think Uncle Finarfin's general cheerfulness was just too much for him. He gritted his teeth in annoyance. Mum quickly stopped him from doing anything or going anywhere by promptly dropping herself onto his lap.

"This is mature," muttered dad from where he was squashed onto the couch.

"And you're always mature? Please, Feanor!" exclaimed mum.

I saw a girl with greenish-blue coloured hair move on the edge of my vision and moved over a little so Avasarie could sit down.

"So," she said, while the rest of my family were chattering and making noise, "Has anyone said anything yet?" I knew what she was talking about.

"No, actually, and that's really weird, considering my family loves drama and scandal." I cut a sandwich in half. "Like Finrod and Amarie. Everyone's been waiting for them to get together for years."

"So what're we gonna do when someone actually notices?"

I hadn't actually thought about what was going to happen, because it was inevitable someone would notice somewhere along the line, and we would both have the shit bagged out of us because we'd denied that there was anything going on for ages. But now that I thought about it, I didn't actually care.

"We won't do anything," I said bluntly. Avasarie grinned.

"That's the spirit," she declared, flicking some hair out of her face.

It only just occurred to me how much I'd done while I had been here for summer. So, I'd been drunk for the first time, talked to a Vala, been on a stage in front of thousands of people and discovered that I liked my best friend. While not every bit of the last few weeks had been particularly pleasant I'd had some sort of life – for a little while, anyway.

"What're you guys talking about over there?" asked Maedhros. It was probably good that I didn't act on the impulse I had to casually throw an arm around Avasarie's shoulder.

"Nothing important," I replied quickly.

Celegorm snorted. "As if." Dad looked at us for a few moments before any realisations dawned him. And when he suddenly realises something, he doesn't keep quiet about it.

"Not you too!" he cried. Everyone else turned around and stared at us.

"Oh my gosh!" squealed Galadriel. "Why didn't you guys tell us before?"

"Guys!" I tried to shut everyone up. "It's not like we're getting engaged!"

"Who's getting engaged?" asked Curufin, re-entering the room.

"No one is getting engaged!" In case everyone had failed to notice, we were just a bit young for getting married.

"It's about time," put in Grandpa Finwe, who obviously hadn't heard a word I'd just said. Nor had anyone else in the room for that matter. Holy Stars, how the Udun did Grandpa know about all this? I guess if you're a king you kinda do need to be up-to-date on all the goss.

"I am so happy for you guys," said Aredhel cheerfully, plonking herself down on top of Celegorm, who winced. I gave up and resignedly put my arm around Avasarie, who was convulsing with laughter.

Another one of those days. Great.

I know stories are supposed to have a moral or something at the end. I highly doubt that this random snippet of my teenage life really has a moral, or even a point. If there was one, I'd say it would be this: you don't have to do what everyone else is doing just to have fun. If you want my honest opinion, getting completely trashed is definitely not fun when you wake up in the morning with a splitting headache. So far, being what everyone else defines as weird has gotten me into less trouble than conforming and I've learnt not to care that people think I'm different. They still think I'm strange, dark, mysterious, the not-so-hot Son of Feanor. And you know what?

I don't give a damn.

**The End**

Some time in the middle of writing this story I realised that the reason that the name Menelya sounded so familiar was because it's the name of one of the days of the week in Quenya. *facepalm* And here I was thinking I was being so creative. . .

Thank you very much for reading, guys! Special thanks go to everyone who reviewed, and especially to LeCastor, without whose advice and support this story probably wouldn't have been finished.

Reviews would be lovely, so if you have the time please do leave a comment!

Hope to see y'all around some time! :)

Araloth


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